Freshman Miletic helps Rolling Meadows secure 3rd place at Tosh Classic
Rolling Meadows freshman Ian Miletic forgot his shoe by his team's bench right after the Mustangs held off Bolingbrook 58-55 in the third-place game of the Jack Tosh Holiday Classic at York High School in Elmhurst Friday.
The good news for Miletic was that he was able to find his shoe. The even better news for him and Meadows were the two free throws that he hit with five seconds left to help preserve the win.
"I knew once I got fouled that I would like this," said Miletic, who finished with 9 points and 3 steals.
"It would give me a chance to pull though for the team. I got to the line and had a little smile and calmed down and knocked down those two shots."
It was a terrific finish in the tournament for Rolling Meadows (13-2), which lost to tournament champion Glenbard West in the semifinals on Thursday and beat a solid Lake Forest team in the quarterfinals.
"It was nice to come out after yesterday's game, against another very good team and end in a win," Rolling Meadows coach Kevin Katovich said. "That was a great end to a great tournament."
Meadows led 26-22 at the half Led by Cameron Christie (23 points) and Orlando Thomas (16 points) the Mustangs ran off the first 10 points of the second half on their way to a 44-29 lead with 1:33 left in the third quarter.
Bolingbrook (12-2) then began to make its move.
The Raiders began to force the Mustangs to turn the ball over. Rolling Meadows finished with 20 turnovers.
And as they did, the Brook's Donoven Younger (15 points, 6 rebounds), Jaydin Dunlap (11 points) and Michael Osei-Bonsu (10 points, 13 rebounds) began to chip away at the lead.
They trailed 50-43 with 5:06 remaining when the Raiders had a strong surge.
With Younger again taking the lead, Bolingbrook went on and 8-1 run to make it 52-51 with 2:45 left.
"We got a little but frustrated as the game picked up," Christie said. "I was trying to get everybody to slow down. We were still winning the game, so there was no reason to rush anything."
But that's as close as Bolingbrook would get thanks to free throws from Christie, who was 8-for-8 in the final quarter, and Thomas, who knocked down a pair.
Following turnovers Bolingbrook did have an opportunity to pull ahead on two occasions. But on both opportunities, the Raiders also turned the ball over.
With both Christie and Thomas hitting free throws, Bolingbrook coach Rob Brost opted to have Miletic fouled. That foul came before the inbound pass following Mekhi Cooper's 2 free throws that made it 56-55.
"I thought our kids really battled," Brost said. "We had some opportunities slip through our fingers, but overall I am really happy with the fight in our guys."
Foster Ogbonna had 8 points and 12 rebounds for Rolling Meadows while MJ Langit and Cooper each had 8 points for Bolingbrook.
Thomas, who along with Christie was named to the all-tournament team said the Mustangs are proud of their hardware,
"We really felt that we were the second best team in the tournament," Thomas said. "We feel that this plaque is a real tribute to our team."