Team effort helps Rolling Meadows down Elk Grove

Rolling Meadows showed that Max Christie will have plenty of help.

The Mustangs had 11 different players score points to go with Christie's 19 points as Rolling Meadows cruised past host Elk Grove 72-37 Friday in the Mid-Suburban East boys basketball opener for both teams.

"It is fun, "Rolling Meadows coach Kevin Katovich said. "Every day at practice it is kind of a new beginning for everyone. We have a lot of weapons and keep getting better and keep working."

Christie still gets more of his share of the load for the Mustangs (5-0, 1-0). The junior, who has a plethora of high-level Division-I offers, played just 19 minutes and scored 19 points, had 15 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 assists and 2 jams.

"The first conference game of any year is hype," Christie said. "Especially an away game. We are a known team and it was great to get a great win, especially in a hostile environment."

Playing in front of an assistant coach from Gonzaga, Christie had a basket and then a steal and a dunk in the first 42 seconds to send Rolling Meadows on its way.

Despite playing just over five minutes in the first quarter, Christie would net 11 points as the Mustangs jumped to 21-2 lead after the first quarter.

Katovich wasn't shy about quickly going to his bench. He inserted 13 different players into the Rolling Meadows lineup before half of the second quarter had gone by.

"We are trying to reward kids for doing the right things in practice," Katovich said. "Guys are at practice and they are earning time. We are going to keep seeing who can do what."

One of those guys who did what he could do was Orlando Thomas. A sophomore, Thomas was able to log more minutes because of an injury to Jonah Ogunsanya. Thomas responded by scoring 11 points.

"It was a big day for me," said Thomas, who added 5 rebounds. "I tried to do my best and get my team involved."

Katovich isn't worried how these substitutions will blend with Christie.

"We have eight juniors and they have played with Max since fourth grade," Katovich said. "A couple of freshmen we have up, they have played together. And the couple of seniors, they are so used to playing with him, since Max has been up since his freshman year."

The Mustangs also got solid performances from freshman Foster Ogbonna, who had 8 points, and Danny Fallon, who also had 8 points.\ Alex Lebeau had 7 points and Joey Mickey had 8 rebounds.

Elk Grove (0-5, 0-1) had a solid second quarter as the Grens closed out the half trailing 37-20. They got the lead down to 39-26 early in the third quarter before Christie and Meadows went on a 14-2 run to put the game away.

"We just weren't ready to play basketball tonight," Elk Grove coach Nick Oraham said. "I don't know where that came from. We play hard. We have to get a little grinder defensively and do a better job on the glass."

Caden Dixon led Elk Grove with 8 points while Mauro Garay had 6 points for the Grens.