Meadows rallies past Wheeling

Rolling Meadows has had a number of close losses where it was not able to finish the deal.

Meadows seemed to be headed down that same path at Wheeling on Friday night, trailing by a point entering the final quarter.

But Brian Nelms scored 10 of his game-high 16 points propelling Meadows (7-12, 3-5) to a 57-50 Mid-Suburban East victory over Wheeling.

Wheeling (3-18, 0-8) entered the fourth quarter with a 38-37 advantage behind an enthusiastic home crowd, but Meadows used a 14-0 run to begin the quarter to take a commanding 51-38 lead with 2:33 left.

Nelms scored 6 points during the run, adding some pressure defense and a key rebound.

"He kind of settled us down and did everything you'd want a point guard to do," said Meadows coach Kevin Katovich of his sophomore guard. "He is very poised and he's getting better and better."

Senior James Barrera, senior James Miles, and senior Kevin Kortum spurred a Wheeling defense holding MSL leading scorer Richie Kemph (13 points) to 7 points in the first three quarters.

"That was the best defensive effort we had all year," said Wheeling coach Lou Wool. "They just made him work really hard."

So Nelms took control to open the final quarter, scoring on a pair of running lay-ups. He then capped a 6-point Mustang sequence, which included a technical foul on Wheeling, with a running jumper.

The sophomore then secured the victory by going 4-for-4 from the line in the final minute-and-a-half.

"The whole season we've been struggling in the fourth quarter, giving up the lead," added Nelms, "tonight we just kept it together."

Senior Jimmy Garoppolo (11 points), junior Paul Volkman (9 points, 11 rebounds), and senior Tyler Allen (8 point) also added to the Mustangs' attack.

Meadows jumped out to a 10-2 advantage in the first four minutes, but Wheeling outscored the Mustangs 21-11 the remainder of the half to take a 23-21 lead at the break.

Junior Tyler Shapiro then scored 7 of his team-high 12 points in the third quarter, including a jumper at the end of the third quarter to give Wheeling its final lead.

But the Wildcats started the final quarter with 3 turnovers and went 0-for-9 from the field in the first six minutes.

"We had all the momentum with the crowd and all that," said Shapiro, "We thought we had it, we just didn't finish."