Boys basketball: Rolling Meadows comes from 10 down in fourth quarter, beats Barrington in OT

Twice in the past five seasons Rolling Meadows and Barrington fought for the Mid-Suburban League boys basketball title.

The Mustangs prevailed at home in the COVID-19 shortened six-week campaign in the winter of 2021 that allowed them to complete a 16-0 season that earned them a No. 3 final ranking in the state in lieu of a state tournament.

The following year, the Broncos avenged that defeat at home over Meadows en route to a trip to the University of Illinois where it earned a bronze medal finish at the Class 4A state finals.

This season, the two schools find themselves together as members of a reconfigured MSL West Division.

They also found themselves with identical 0-1 marks in West play after losses in last week's opening round of competition and in need of a victory Friday at Meadows.

And it was after finding themselves down by double-digits in the fourth quarter, the host Mustangs rallied to first force an extra session, then found its way through the visitors in overtime where it held on for a 59-57 win to even their West record at 1-1.

"I'm super proud of our kids," Meadows coach Kevin Katovich said.

"Credit to our guys. They never give up. They're relentless. They battle non-stop. I couldn't be happier with their effort."

Meadows (5-2 overall) began their comeback after an inside hoop by senior D.J. Young put the visiting team ahead 45-35 with 5:34 left in regulation.

At that point, the Mustangs went on a 14-4 tear that would send the contest to overtime on a pair of Tony Ruffalo charity tosses with four seconds remaining that evened things at 49.

Once again, the home squad would have to rally as another bucket from Young (10 points) put the Broncos up 53-49 with 2:37 left in overtime.

There, the Mustangs senior duo of Kenan Pekovic and Andrew Krestel brought them back. They scored all 9 points of a 9-1 surge that kept them ahead to stay 58-54 on a pair of charity tosses from Krestel (game-high 13 points) with 26 ticks left.

Still, Barrington (4-3, 0-2) had a shot at victory after an Oliver Gray three coupled with a Ben Babula charity toss gave them one last shot for a possible win only to see a Tommy Hills attempt from beyond the arc fall short as time expired.

Pekovic finished with 12 while senior teammate Marty Lesner added 10 prior to fouling out in the fourth.

Gray and senior Bryan Schechtman paced the Broncos with 11 each in the losing effort.