St. Viator offense complemented by Mayo

St. Viator did not watch its offense go on hold with junior Mayo Arogundade at point guard.

Arogundade had to step in as a starter in the Class 4A regional championship game at Rolling Meadows with starter D.J. Morris and backup Mark Falotico out with ankle injuries.

Arogundade had 6 assists as the Lions matched their second-best scoring game of the season in a 78-54 victory over the Mustangs. One of the big beneficiaries was Arogundade’s sophomore brother Ore, who scored 29 points.

And he impressed first-year coach Mike Howland, a two-time all-area point guard at Viator.

“He guarded (Brian) Nelms and did a great job on him,” Howland said of Meadows’ four-year varsity point guard. “He did a great job of just getting us into the offense and making plays for everybody else, which was huge, because he pretty much had to go the distance.”

Howland hopes that isn’t the case tonight for Arogundade as Morris and Falotico have returned to practice. Morris went through warm-ups Friday night but Howland said he couldn’t get a good push off his ankle so he was available only for an emergency which never arose.

Morris’ return would provide a big boost defensively against Mundelein’s high-powered offense.

“He makes things go for us.”

Mundelein reloads: So much for a rebuilding season for Mundelein.

The Mustangs lost four college players — including Missouri Valley Conference all-freshman team pick Ryan Sawvell at Evansville — and eight seniors from a 29-5 team that lost in the sectional final to Warren.

“If you had told me we’d have 25 wins and be playing in the sectionals … I thought it could be a really tough year for us,” said Mundelein coach Dick Knar.

But the Mustangs have been tough as usual on opposing defenses led by Knar’s junior son Robert. The all-state candidate is averaging 22 points, 7.5 rebounds and 6 assists and his 101 3-pointers broke the 18-year-old school record of 97 by Kyle Kessel, who played basketball at Texas A&M and pitched in the minor leagues for eight years.

Knar’s 1,860 career points are only 60 shy of Kessel’s mark. And Knar can get them quickly as evidenced by 10 of his 38 on Friday night coming in just 40 seconds.

“He’s got that ability,” Dick Knar said of his son, who has seven Division I offers and interest from Stanford, Virginia and Boston College. “He’s a very good passer and earlier this year he was averaging 7.5 assists but taking only 12-13 shots a game. We said, ‘We need you to fire the pill up there a little more.’”

Versatile 6-foot-6 junior Sean O’Brien had 16 points and 16 rebounds against Lake Zurich and Knar called 6-4 junior Chino Ebube the best athlete he’s ever coached, including at the college level.

Junior Cliff Dunigan also has scored 20 points three times and sophomore Nate Williams has provided solid on-the-ball defense. Jordan Wiegold and 3-point threat Nate Brune, the only seniors on the roster, started for two-thirds of the season but now come off the bench with junior Quinn Pokora.

Mundelein hit a snag at Christmas when it lost Ebube for nine games around Christmas to return to Nigeria after his grandmother’s death. But the rotation became more settled once Ebube returned to playing shape after the layoff.

Nonconference losses to 2A power Hales Franciscan and Milwaukee Hamilton in the last month of the regular season helped prepare the Mustangs.

“Those were two really good, athletic, very talented teams,” Knar said. “Even though we lost both it was good for us because when you make mistakes against those teams they make you pay.”

They meet again: Schaumburg and visiting Oak Park-River Forest will have some familiarity when they meet in tonight’s 4A sectional semifinal.

But Schaumburg coach Matt Walsh isn’t sure how much a 73-57 win over Oak Park in last year’s second-round elimination game of the Pontiac Holiday Tournament matters now.

“It’s a completely different year and a completely different situation,” Walsh said. “I don’t think it will factor into it too much.”

Schaumburg’s Javon McDonald, who was the game’s star by scoring 22 points and hitting all 6 of his 3-point attempts, has graduated. But Christian Spandiary (14 points, 5 rebounds), Kyle Bolger (10 points, 7 assists), Jimmy Lundquist (10 points) and Michael Mallett (4 points) are all back.

Ka’Darryl Bell (13 points, 6 assists) and Gabe Levin (14 points, 4 rebounds) played key roles for the Huskies while Alex Nesnidal and Jakari Cammon had 2 points apiece.

Huskies double the fun: Having Bradley-bound point guard Ka’Darryl Bell and 6-7 Gabe Levin (19 ppg, 9 rpg) back from all-conference junior seasons and the varsity experience of juniors Jakari Cammon and Alex Gustafson helped Oak Park-River Forest (20-6) double its win total of last year and claim the West Suburban Silver title.

“It’s a coach’s dream and the chemistry is phenomenal,” said Oak Park coach Matt Maloney. “Guys are playing for one another and they’ve given up some of their wants for what the team needs.”

Bell was out for a month early in the season with a fractured wrist but has returned to average 13.5 points and 4 assists. He started as a sophomore when the Huskies went 22-6.

“He’s one of the fastest guards I’ve seen go north-south when he gets in the open floor, especially since we like to push the tempo,” Maloney said. “He’s a strong guard and a tough guy to keep out of the paint. If he’s on it seems the rest of the team elevates their game.”

Bell has a nice complement in Cammon, who was the WSC Silver offensive player of the year in football after rushing for more than 1,600 yards.

They can both find Levin, who has a scholarship offer from Loyola and interest from Colgate, Sacramento State and North Dakota State. Maloney said Levin, an honor roll student who just turned 17 in September, is also considering an East Coast prep school.

“They’re big, long and athletic and what makes them really good is they’re talented and skilled,” said Schaumburg coach Matt Walsh. “They have very good parts. A stud point guard (Bell), a shooter (Alex Nesnidal) and as good of a player as we’ve played against all year in Levin.”

ESCC’s Friday: Seven East Suburban Catholic Conference teams reached regional finals but the only survivors were St. Viator and Marist, which upset Public League powerhouse Curie 63-62. Benet lost by a point to Metea Valley, Marian Catholic and Notre Dame lost by three to Andrew and Evanston respectively, St. Patrick lost to Maine South and Carmel fell to Lakes in 3A.

The ESCC champion Lions avoided a repeat of the other time they won the conference title in 1997 when they were the No. 2 sectional seed — with first-year coach Mike Howland as an all-area point guard — and fell to a 10th-seeded team in Maine South in double overtime in a regional final.

“I have painful memories of 2-10 matchups,” Howland said before the Meadows game. “We’ll remind them of that.”

The Lions obviously got the message.