Senior living: Experienced Rolling Meadows claims MSL championship against Fremd
Seniors rule.
And with its top eight players being seniors, so does Rolling Meadows.
The Mustangs are led by a group of players who had been together since sixth grade. And they played like that, leading from start to finish to beat Fremd 69-62 to win the MSL championship game Wednesday in Rolling Meadows.
“We are so fortunate to have such great seniors,” Rolling Meadows coach Kevin Katovich said. “We have eight really good players and eight or more starters on this team. They really came through tonight. It was nice to see.”
This was Rolling Meadows’ fifth consecutive appearance in the title game. The Mustangs had won the first of these games then lost the next three, including last year to Palatine.
“It means a lot to win it with this group,” said Mustangs senior Ian Miletic, who will play at Marquette next year.
“These are my guys. I am grateful for this opportunity. We were hungry ever since that loss to Palatine last year. We knew we would be in this position. We had a lot of great preparation and intensity and mindset. We just took care of business and I could not be more proud.”
Rolling Meadows (26-4) got off to a terrific start thanks to some hot shooting and the play of Patrick Coen.
The 6-foot-8 Coen was under and outside for the Mustangs. He hit a pair of free throws after an offensive rebound, scored inside and then drilled a 3-pointer as Rolling Meadows opened a 15-8 lead.
“I always knew I had it,” said Coen, who will play at Loras College next year. “I haven’t been playing with that much confidence with my scoring. But I have a phenomenal group around me that picks you up no matter what.”
Miletic, who had hit a pair of 3s during that span, added a basket, and Jack Duffer had a driving layup as the Mustangs increased their lead to 19-8.
Fremd (24-3) regrouped and went on a 7-0 run to cut the deficit to 19-15 on a pair of free throws by Sam Hirsch. Rolling Meadows regained the momentum at the end of the quarter as Gavin Escobedo knocked down a 3 for a 22-15 advantage.
Fremd turned up the heat, and that got the Vikings right back into it. They got a basket by Ryan Brown and the first points of the game from Jordan Williams to make it 22-19. The Vikings continued to battle and closed to 26-24 on a 3-pointer by Tommy Moffett.
“When you see what is going on out there, you can come in here and adapt to it,” Rolling Meadows’ Lazar Lazarevic said. “Winning is fun. We are all having a blast. We are experienced and we have been here before. And we learned from the experience from last year.”
Miletic led Rolling Meadows with 20 points, including a trio of 3s. Lazarevic had 13 points, 8 of which came in the second half. Escobedo finished with 12, Coen 9 and Duffer 8.
This could be the final true MSL title game between teams from the East and West divisions. The MSL will implement their relegation divisions next season, so that will change the divisional makeup from geographic to divisions based upon success.
“It is ironic because Rolling Meadows won the MSL title the last time it was divided North-South,” Katovich said. “Now Rolling Meadows won the last year of East-West. We liked that and we will take it.”
Fremd was led Hirsch, who 18 points and Williams, who also finished with 18 points, 12 coming in the fourth quarter. Moffett had 11, Brown 8 and Rafael Pinto 7.
“They became, kind of like a freight train coming at you,” Fremd coach Mike Brown said. “We couldn’t get enough stops in this game. And that is a credit to them.”
Rolling Meadows and Fremd could be on a collision course and meet again in the Schaumburg sectional final on March 7. Fremd is seeded first in the Schaumburg sectional and Fremd is seeded second.