Rolling Meadows shows its mettle at Fenton tournament

Even short-handed, the Rolling Meadows boys basketball team came up big over the Thanksgiving holiday.

The Mustangs won the competitive Fenton Thanksgiving tournament last week, defeating a tough Timothy Christian team in the championship game to go 4-0.

"From top to bottom, it was a very nice tournament," Rolling Meadows coach Kevin Katovich said. "We lost in the championship last year to Wheaton Warrenville South, so we're pretty happy with what we were able to do there this year. But we still have to much room to improve."

Rolling Meadows is still putting all the pieces together. Four important players, Daniel Sobkowicz, Sean Nolan, Nife Oseni and Danny Fallon, are coming to the season late from football, where the Mustangs made a deep run into the Class 7A playoffs.

Only Sobkowicz played at Fenton.

"Monday was the first day we had our full team all together," Katovich said. "We've played four games, but in many ways, it still looked like the first day of practice on Monday. We haven't put in a lot yet. We've been very basic so far. We're still kind of learning each other.

"But the nice thing is, this is probably the most competition from top to bottom we've had since I've been here. Every day, the depth chart changes, every day, who plays well changes. We don't have a set lineup yet. Every day in practice, we see who produces."

Big 3: Although there are still question marks at Rolling Meadows, there has been some consistency to the lineup in the early weeks of the season.

Superstar guard Max Christie and his younger brother Cameron, a freshman, have started every game in the backcourt. Likewise, guard Jonah Ogunsanya has been a reliable weapon. In fact, Ogunsanya joined Max Christie on the all-tournament team at Fenton.

Christie was the most valuable player of the tournament.

"All three of those guys played well," Katovich said. "Like any freshman, Cam's going to have his ups and downs, but like Max did when he was a freshman, Cam fits in really well and we are comfortable with the ball in his hands. Max is such a perfect combo guard. He can play the 1 or 2, he makes good decisions with the ball, and this year, he is really focused on getting other guys involved and we have other guys that he can go to so that he doesn't have to carry the load."

Ogunsanya is one of those guys. He started last year when Max Christie was out with an injury, but mostly he came off the bench as a defensive specialist.

"Jonah worked so hard in the offseason to get better," Katovich said. "He was at every opportunity there was to work on his game, on his shooting or to get stronger. The time he put in was unparalleled and I'm so happy it paid off with him being named all-tournament. He can do a lot of things for us, but he is really good at defense. In all four of our games (at Fenton), he always guarded the other team's best player. He takes a lot of pride in that."

The Mustangs open their Mid-Suburban East season at home Friday night against Elk Grove, then travel to Schaumburg, which was 4-0 in winning the Crystal Lake Central tournament last week, on Tuesday for a big early-season MSL crossover.

Busy, busy: It's been an eventful start to the school year for Fremd senior forward Max Wexley.

Last week, Wexley earned all-tournament honors at the Fenton Thanksgiving tournament, where Fremd went 2-2, defeating West Chicago and Montini.

That comes after Wexley, an officer for the National Honor Society at Fremd, found out that he got a perfect 36 on the ACT.

"The course load that Max takes at Fremd is also really impressive," said Vikings coach Bob Widlowski. "For him to be able to balance all of that with basketball is really impressive. He's a state academic scholar and he's averaging about 10 points per game and is the leading scorer for us. He's a leader in many ways at Fremd."

Little brother stepping up: It's Kayman Hopkins' turn now.

Big brother Bryce Hopkins, who topped Fremd in scoring last year, is off playing at the University of Chicago. Now, Kayman, a 6-foot-5 senior forward who started every game last year alongside his big brother, is ready to step up his game and his leadership role on the team.

"Kayman's brother was such a positive for him," Fremd coach Bob Widlowski said. "They worked really well together, but with Bryce gone now, Kayman is going to be taking a bigger role, and he's very accepting of that. I think he looks forward to that."

Widlowski says that big brother Bryce is already playing at the University of Chicago as a true freshman.

"Bryce is doing a great job. He was a three-year varsity player and he did a lot of different things for us," Widlowski said. "He left some big shoes to fill but I think we have some kids including his brother who want to take that on."