Rolling Meadows can't catch up to Loyola
Jace O'Hara is one of a quartet of Rolling Meadows seniors who have made a huge impact on the court for the Mustangs during their careers.
And though their final game was a tough way to go out - Loyola scored a 63-43 boys basketball win over the host Mustangs in Tuesday's Class 4A regional semifinals - O'Hara talked about how much he appreciated being part of the team over the years.
"It obviously stinks," said O'Hara of the loss to the Ramblers. "I'm just glad I could spend all this time with my teammates. They've made me a better person and a better leader, and I just tried to do the best I could.
"It's not about me, it's about the team. We had a lot of special players on the court and in the locker room this year. Everyone was so supportive."
Another senior, Javonte Warrner, scored 14 points for Meadows, as did sophomore Max Christie.
But the Mustangs couldn't contend with the Loyola front line of 6-foot-8 Jordan Kwiecinski, 6-8 Bennett Kwiecenski, and 6-4 Connor Barrett.
The Ramblers posted a sizable advantage on the boards in the contest.
"They've assembled a ton of talent and they're super well-coached," said Meadows coach Kevin Katovich. "From one through fifteen, they're good, skilled and strong.
"We knew it was an uphill battle coming in but I'm just so proud of our guys. They kept fighting, clawing and battling, and our four seniors (O'Hara, Warrener, Matt Schoessling and TJ Williams) did a nice job leading the way. It was nothing but positives tonight."
Meadows stayed right with Loyola for one quarter, but three first half 3-pointers from Barrett helped the Ramblers build a 16-point lead.
A long, banked-in 3 at the halftime buzzer from Warrener gave the Mustangs some life and cut the lead to 32-19.
"We had a ton of respect for Rolling Meadows," said Ramblers coach Tom Livatino. "Coach Katovich does a phenomenal job. Max (Christie) is a very good player and always has the green light, but they have a lot of guys that can shoot it, and their number 10 (Warrener) is a really solid player.
"We couldn't just focus in on Max completely, but we wanted to make sure off the dribble that we were in two gaps because he's a big spin dribble guy. Unfortunately we fouled him a couple times but overall I thought we did a solid job."
Barrett had a couple more 3s to open the third quarter as Loyola quickly built a 20-point lead.
Rolling Meadows (15-12) was only able to cut the gap below 20 once in the final stanza when Warrener hit his fourth 3-pointer of the game with 5:05 left.
Barrett and Nikko Landon led Loyola with 15 points apiece, Christie had 8 rebounds for Meadows, while Mustangs junior Billy Miller pitched in with 9 points.
"Our seniors provided a lot of leadership all year," added Katovich. "They are just absolute great kids.
"We played hard, we did a nice job, but it's a credit to Loyola's defense that we got shots but didn't get many clean looks. Every shot was contested and challenged. It's no shame losing to a team like that."