Rolling Meadows survives scare from Prospect - barely
Prospect's boys basketball team was looking to throw a surprise party at Rolling Meadows on the Mustangs' Senior Night Friday evening.
Instead, the Mustangs burst the Knights' balloon with 6.2 seconds when senior Max Christie hit both ends of a one-and-bonus free throw situation for a 47-45 win in the Mid-Suburban East.
Christie finished the game with 33 points connecting on 11 of 17 shots from the field. He was 10 of 11 from the free-throw line, grabbed 11 rebounds and had 2 steals. The Michigan State signee now stands just 24 points shy of becoming the all-time scoring leader in MSL boys basketball history.
The win for Rolling Meadows (12-0, 8-0) sets up a showdown with Hersey Tuesday night for the MSL East title.
On the inbounds play, Owen Schneider made it to half-court before being fouled by Christie with 3.4 seconds left.
"Coach (Kevin Katovich) told us during the time out with 6.2 left that we had a foul to give and we used it. We wanted to use that foul to slow them down," said Christie. "Prospect always come out and plays well against us. It's just a good rivalry that we have. They executed well but we found a way to win."
Schneider received the inbound pass at midcourt but his 3-point attempt was blocked by Luke Duffer as time expired.
"We were looking to put a good one together tonight after a few tough games," said Prospect senior Marco Shaw, who finished with 8 points. "We wanted to stay locked in at the start the game with some good looks against their zone. It's fun to play against a player like Max."
Colin Votzmeyer (12 points) started the Knights (4-6, 3-4) out in the right direction, hitting three 3-pointers. Schneider (12 points) hit a 3-pointer as Prospect led 12-4 halfway through the first quarter. The Knights led 14-11 at the end of the quarter.
Prospect led 22-21 at halftime.
Rolling Meadows forged ahead 33-25 with help from Orlando Thomas' 5 points and a pair of free throws from Christie to lead 33-27 at the end of the quarter.
Prospect used a 14-3 run to lead 41-36 with 4:56 left in the game.
The Mustangs' Ryan Stubitsch connected on a 3-pointer to stop the Knights' rally.
Christie's layup with 43 seconds leftv gave the Mustangs a 45-44 lead.
Votzmeyer was fouled with 8 seconds left and made the first of a one-and-bonus. The Mustangs called time out. Votzmeyer missed the second shot and Christie was fouled.
"I got the rebound off the miss and was fouled," said Christie. "I was able to knock them down to win the game for us. This is a season that we've dreamed of."
"We were coming off a disappointing road loss against Buffalo Grove last weekend," said Prospect coach John Camardella. "Tonight they were willing to deal with difficult losses. Tonight they focused on each possession. We tried to reduce their space with our defense. It was quite a battle. We had 14 assists on our 17 baskets. That's how you compete against a team like Meadows."
"John is such a good coach," said Katovich. "They had a great game plan. They dictated the tempo and pace. You have to give them a lot of credit. On Senior Night we found away to win. Max was unbelievable. You see it time and time again."