Rolling Meadows scripts MSL East crown
Rolling Meadows may not have followed the script boys basketball coach Kevin Katovich might have written.
But the twists and turns in the final act were award-worthy — in this case some brand new Mid-Suburban East championship T-shirts.
The host Mustangs clinched the division title outright by rallying in the final three minutes for a 60-59 victory Friday over a Wheeling team (2-21, 1-8) that played as if its title hopes were on the line as well.
The divisional crown is the first outright for the Mustangs since 1997-98 and put them in the MSL championship game Feb. 22 at Schaumburg, which clinched the West title Friday.
“This group is unbelievable,” Katovich said. “They did every single thing we asked them to do. They are a dream to coach.”
Meadows (15-8, 8-1) led the entire game until Wheeling’s Charlie Kirk warmed up in the fourth quarter, scoring 9 of his team-best 20 points.
“Charlie had a special night,” Wheeling coach John Clancy said. “He made big plays.”
His basket with 4:58 left gave the Wildcats their first lead of the night, 51-50, and Jeremy Stephani’s 3-pointer made it 54-50 with 4:30 remaining.
Tyler Gaedele (25 points, seven 3-pointers) made a layoff off a steal, and then Brian Nelms gave the lead back to Meadows at 55-54 when he grabbed a loose ball in the lane and scored after Michael Rose split a pair of free throws.
“We crashed the boards like we worked on in practice,” Nelms said. “Knowing how we fight, I knew we wouldn’t go down easy.”
“Talk about championship plays; Brian made one at the end,” Katovich said.
Kirk put the Wildcats back on top 56-55 with 1:25 left. That’s when Gaedele and Nelms came to the rescue.
Gaedele hit his final 3 of the game with 1:05 remaining, and Nelms dropped in a pair of free throws with 18.8 seconds remaining, giving the Mustangs a 60-56 lead.
Gaedele started the game by making 5-of-6 from the behind the arc in the first quarter.
“The last couple of games I’d been pretty cold,” Gaedele said. “I was missing my shots, but coach (Brett) Olson noticed something was wrong in warmups. I was pushing the ball.
“The championship means a lot to everyone on the team, especially the seniors.”
“He missed the same shot against Barrington,” Katovich said. “But there is no one else in the gym I’d rather see take that shot than Ty.”
Stephani (15 points) stuck his fifth 3 of the game with 4.4 seconds left, and Wheeling put Nelms on the line with three seconds left. Kirk’s desperation heave following the miss bounced off the backboard as time expired.
Rose was a force inside for Meadows, finishing with 18 points. Chris Pierro scored 14 points for Wheeling.
“This was our MSL title game,” Clancy said. “We showed great poise for a team in our situation.
“One nice thing about this group is they continue to work. I think we can be scary come tournament time.”