Brother Rice's depth makes difference vs. Rolling Meadows
Brother Rice was able to wear down Rolling Meadows just enough to post a 64-59 win in front of a packed house at the When Sides Collide Shootout at Benet High School in Lisle Saturday afternoon.
Brother Rice guard Ahmad Henderson scored 18 of his 20 points in the second half to secure the win.
The Mustangs (20-3) led 48-47 going into the fourth quarter. Cam Christie, who would score 29 points, tallied 11 in the third quarter to keep Rolling Meadows ahead.
"Cam was great for us today," said Rolling Meadows coach Kevin Katovich. "He was special and did a really nice job for us."
"We want to play in these tough games," said Christie. "These games help us get better. The loss hurts but we think it will help in the long run. We have to play hard for the 32 minutes. We have to build leads so our bench can get some experience."
Christie hit 10 of 22 shots but only 3 of 11 from 3-point range. As a team the Mustangs hit on 22 of 54 shots. Brother Rice made 24 of 55 shots.
Peter McShane, Nick Niego and Henderson all scored in an 8-0 run to build a 55-48 lead with 4:35 left in the game.
A basket off a rebound by Tsvet Sotirov and a 3-point basket from Foster Ogbonna with 2:37 left in the game cut the Crusader (20-3) lead to 57-55.
Henderson's 3-point basket gave Brother Rice a 60-55 lead with 2:02 remaining.
Christie hit two free throws but Henderson countered with two of his own with: 19 left for a 62-57 lead.
"We knew we had to try and control Christie," said Henderson. "But we also knew we had to play our game. We're a deep team and that's the beauty of it."
Brother Rice led 14-13 after the first quarter behind Zavier Fitch who scored 8 of his 12 in the quarter.
The Mustangs were able to take a third quarter lead at halftime 33-32. Mark Nikolich-Wilson scored 8 of his 12 points in the quarter. Christie had 7 points and Ogbonna added 5 of his 8.
The deeper bench by the Crusaders wore down Rolling Meadows in the fourth quarter.
"There were some shots today that we typically make, and they made some shots at clutch times," said Katovich. "We didn't shoot the ball well tonight but some of it was Brother Rice's defense. We need to get back to some fundamentals that we didn't do well tonight. It's so much fun to play in these games. It's such a great atmosphere and it will help us on the long run."