advertisement

Hersey rises to the task against Rolling Meadows

Rolling Meadows' boys basketball team came in to Hersey's Ken Carter gymnasium hoping to build on its consolation championship at York High School's tournament last week.

The host Huskies had other ideas.

Hersey, stinging a bit after finishing 1-3 at Pekin last week, used a huge second half to beat its Mid-Suburban East rival 70-47 Friday night.

Hersey guard Joe Coffaro scored 21 points in the win, and in doing so set a school record for career 3s, breaking Luke Fabrizius' record of 160.

Coffaro's first 3 to start the game set the record, but his baskets at the end of the second quarter and to start the third quarter were the momentum-changers.

"He had some big baskets for us tonight," said Hersey coach Steve Messer, who saw the Huskies creep back near the .500 mark at 6-7 but more importantly 3-1 in conference. "Those are the 10 (conference) games we concentrate on."

"We struggled with some sickness and injuries at Pekin," said Coffaro. "We had leads in a few of those losses and we let it get away from us. Tonight we didn't let that happen. We thought we could move the ball around their zone and score. Our defense and rebounding kept them from getting second-chance points."

Senior center Ed Mleko was the man in the middle, scoring 12 points and snaring 10 rebounds in what Messer called "the best game of his career."

"Ed did a lot of good things," said Messer. "He scored, rebounded, passed the ball well and got a few assists."

"I knew what I had to do tonight," said Mleko. "I had to keep them off the glass. Our offense did well. We worked hard in practice on screening and cutting to the basket. We found the open man."

Chris O'Toole scored 14 points and Grant Wagner added 10. Ken Hasley, the fifth senior starter, scored 8 points.

Jared Murphy led the (6-8, 1-3) Mustangs with 24 points and 6 rebounds.

Things first looked good for Rolling Meadows, which was working on a four-game win streak.

The Mustangs led 22-15 with 4:39 left in the first half - and then things began to go south.

Hasley tied the game with a putback basket at 26 with :43 second left. Murphy gave Rolling Meadows the lead with :18 left.

Coffaro nailed a 3 with :02 left that gave the Huskies a 29-28 that they would not give up.

Coffaro hit a 3 to start the second half, and the Huskies began to roll.

The closest the Mustangs got was 37-33 on Liam Brigham's 3. Hersey finished the quarter with a 14-5 run to lead 51-38 going into the fourth quarter.

"I'm at a loss for words," said Rolling Meadows coach Kevin Katovich. "We played a pretty good quarter and a half. Credit Hersey, they made us pay We just had too many breakdowns. They were more aggressive and they wanted it more than we did."

  Hersey's Grant Wagner delivers at the basket in the first half against Rolling Meadows' Ryan Carney on Friday at Hersey. Mark Welsh/mwelsh@dailyherald.com
  Hersey's Grant Wagner works to the basket in the first half against Rolling Meadows' Charlie Cox on Friday at Hersey. Mark Welsh/mwelsh@dailyherald.com
  Hersey's Eddie Mleko battles around Rolling Meadows' Justin Thompson on Friday at Hersey. Mark Welsh/mwelsh@dailyherald.com
  Rolling Meadow's Jared Murphy gets to the bucket ahead of defender Grant Wagner on Friday at Hersey. Mark Welsh/mwelsh@dailyherald.com
Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.