Mundelein comeback thwarts Bartlett

The Bartlett boys basketball team gave Mundelein everything it had in the first 11 minutes Wednesday night.

But it was all Mundelein in the final 21.

The Mustangs erased an 11-point deficit to lead by as many as 13 in the fourth quarter to beat the Hawks, 65-57, in the semifinals of the Jacobs Holiday Classic in Algonquin.

“I don't think we came out the way we should have,” Mustangs coach Dick Knar said. “They came out better prepared than us.”

Mundelein (11-2) faces Huntley (10-1) at 7:30 p.m. today in the championship game. The Hawks (8-6) will play Barrington (8-6) in the third-place game at 6 p.m.

Bartlett stormed out to a 7-0 lead before Ryan Sawvell scored 6 consecutive points to get Mundelein within 1, 7-6. The Hawks led 16-11 after the first quarter. Sawvell kept the Mustangs close, scoring 8 points on 4 of 5 shooting. The rest of the team was 1-for-12 with the only basket being a 3-pointer at the buzzer by Robert Knar.

The Hawks increased the lead to 11, 27-16, with 5:17 left in the first half after a layup from Lance Whitaker, who led Bartlett with 19 points. The Mustangs' Leavon Head started driving the lane more and led Mundelein on a 12-0 run, scoring 7 points. The spurt gave the Mustangs their first lead, 28-27, and they led 31-29 at halftime after a 3-pointer from Jordan Wiegold with 5 seconds left in the half.

“I don't think we did a good job defending after the first quarter,” Hawks coach Jim Wolfsmith said. “I thought we got sloppy on defense and sloppy on offense.”

Mundelein increased the lead to 12, 49-37, by the end of the third quarter and led by 13, 53-40, in the fourth. The Hawks would not get any closer than 6.

Sawvell had another outstanding performance against Bartlett. The senior scored 18 points and had 20 rebounds in a 12-point victory over the Hawks on Nov. 23. On Wednesday, he finished with 25 points, 12 rebounds and 3 blocks.

“I don't know what it is,” Sawvell said of his two big games against the Hawks. “I was in the right position on offensive rebounds and able to pull down defensive rebounds.”

Head added 14 points and Robert Knar had 13 for Mundelein.

Lorenzo Mitchell finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds for the Hawks. Femi Oyewole added 8 points and 9 rebounds.