Boys basketball: Fremd rallies past Rolling Meadows, maintains MSL West lead

Fremd survived Rolling Meadows slower pace and deliberate style Tuesday.

The Vikings rallied from a three-point deficit late in the third quarter for a 41-38 victory in Rolling Meadows.

The victory clinches a share of the MSL West title for Fremd (21-2, 8-1). It also kept the Vikings a game ahead of Palatine in the division standings as the Pirates knocked off Prospect 47-28.

“It was a total slugfest tonight,” Fremd coach Mike Brown said. “They are very well coached but we found a way to pull it out. We couldn’t get anything going on offense and we hung in there with our defense. And then in the second half, we got into a rhythm offensively.”

Rolling Meadows (15-10, 3-6) moved over to the MSL West this season. The Mustangs have embraced the old style of the conference which was a slower pace, deliberate and more physical play.

It has paid some dividends for Meadows, which upended Hersey last Friday.

“Our kids executed the game plan to a T,” Meadows coach Kevin Katovich said. “I think Tom McCormick, Ed Molitor and Bob Williams would have liked what we did. Our guys are super aggressive and it is a pleasure to coach them.”

The pace was extremely slow in the first half. That translated to long scoring droughts for both teams. Each team had at least 8 minutes in the half without scoring.

Fremd went nearly the entire second quarter without a point. Rafael Pinto ended that scoreless streak with a three-point play with 2.9 seconds left in the half as Fremd led 14-11 at the break.

Jordan Williams, who only attempted two shots in the first half for Fremd, scored a basket to begin the third quarter. Pinto also scored for an 18-13 lead.

Behind the play of Tyler Stankiewicz and Marty Lesner, Meadows rattled off 7 unanswered points in a 9-1 scoring run as the Mustangs led 22-19 with 15 seconds left in the third quarter on a putback by Sen Kerr.

Williams then made they big play to get the Vikings back on track.The senior delivered a three-point shot about two steps behind the arc just as the buzzer sounded to tie the game at 22.

“This game was very ugly and frustrating,” said Williams, who would score all 10 of his points in the second half.

“But we had to keep our composure and play as a team. We weren’t running our offense as we usually do. I was just trying to get involved after being scoreless in the first half.”

That play helped awaken Fremd.

Charlie Chlan came off the bench to give Fremd more of a physical presence on both sides of the court.

“It is my role to be like the bruiser with this team,” said Chlan, who had 7 rebounds and one point. “Just cutting, screening, rebounding, helping the guys out. I just stay in my role and let the other guys step up.”

Chlan’s physicality helped free up space for Williams, Pinto and Tommy Moffett to get things going offensively. That led to a scoring eruption for the Vikings, who tallied 10 points in just under a minute and a half to build a 32-22 lead with 6:24 left.

Meadows wasn’t done. They found a 7-point eruption of their own to cut the deficit to 34-31 with 3:20 left on a basket by Lesner.

The Mustangs inched closer with 2:36 left on a three-point play by Stankiewicz that cut the deficit to 37-35.

Moffett then ended it for the Vikings.

He hit two free throws with 18.5 seconds left to make it 39-35. He then stole a pass 10 seconds later, was fouled and made two more free throws to put Fremd up 41-35.

Stankiewicz hit a three with 1.3 seconds left. But the Vikings were able to inbound the ball to hold onto to win.

Pinto led Fremd with 15 points while Moffett had 13.

Stankiewicz led Meadows with 16 points while Lesner had 7 points and Ben Babula had 5 points.