Rolling Meadows handles Wheeling

Christie was the leading scorer for Rolling Meadows Friday night.

Just not the Christie you might think.

With Max Christie, the Mustangs' 6-foot-6 junior guard who is one of the top players in the state, being double-teamed most of the night, his brother Cameron stepped up with a big time game.

Cameron, a freshman, scored 15 points as the Meadows boys basketball team defeated visiting Wheeling 79-51 in the Mid-Suburban East.

"Everybody was getting involved, everyone was looking for each other, not trying to score for themselves," said Cameron Christie. "It all came naturally, we didn't have to force anything."

Cameron Christie, who says that possibly his favorite subject at Meadows is geometry, had a straight line right to the center of the hoop from behind the arc Friday, hitting three 3-pointers.

"I'd say Cameron had a breakout game," said Mustangs coach Kevin Katovich. "He played well offensively and defensively."

Meadows hit 7 of its first 9 shots in running out to a 26-8 lead after one quarter, and the Mustangs came within 1 point of posting five scorers in double figures.

Daniel Sobcowicz finished with 12 points, Max Christie scored 11, Orlando Thomas put up 10 points while Jonah Ogunsanya had 9.

For the second consecutive game, Wheeling played well for the final three quarters after falling behind early.

"We started pretty slow, and we can't continue to start slow like this," said Wildcats senior forward Javen Reid, who played a strong game on both ends of the floor and led Wheeling with 13 points and 6 rebounds.

"The pregame speech tonight was to come out fast and aggressive, and throughout the second half we played them pretty even. We've got a lot of talent, a lot of young guys. We're young and we've got to keep on learning - it's been a great start to the season, I believe in our guys, and through the season we're going to pick it up."

Wheeling made a nice run at the start of the second half and cut into the deficit behind 7 third-quarter points by Christian McLaughlin, who finished with 12 points.

But consecutive steals by Meadows guard Thomas, a sophomore, and teammates Ogunsanya and Aidan Hosler sparked a Mustangs run and the home team led 55-33 after three.

Sobkowicz and Foster Ogbonna each scored 5 points in the fourth quarter for Meadows while Solomon Hudson tallied 5 of his 6 points in the final period for Wheeling.

Junior forward Joe Jordan played tough inside for Wheeling (4-3, 1-1) and ended up with 7 points and 6 boards, while classmate Jaden Terrell also scored 7.

"They (Meadows) not only have Max Christie, but also two through 12 they have kids who can shoot, dribble and defend," said Wheeling coach Michael O'Keeffe. "They're a very difficult team to prepare for."

Hosler put in 8 points for the Mustangs (5-1, 2-0).

"The good news is that we got some valuable minutes for a lot of guys tonight," said Katovich, "but we've got some things we have to clean up on the defensive end. A little too much fouling, a little too much not containing the dribble - but Wheeling will do that to you. They're talented and they've got some guys that can make you look bad. They did a really good job of running their offense.

"Tonight Max didn't score a lot, but he did a really good job distributing the ball and playing defense."