Rolling Meadows stays calm, knocks off Prospect
Leadership down the stretch in a competitive basketball game can spell the difference between a victory or a defeat.
The Rolling Meadows boys basketball team has two junior leaders that propelled them to a 46-34 win at Prospect's Jean Walker Fieldhouse Friday night in the Mid-Suburban East.
Juniors Ian Miletic and Jack Duffer hit four free throws each in the game's final 1:26 to pull out their eighth consecutive win over the Knights and their 32nd consecutive division win.
"This was one of our better defensive efforts we have had all year," said Rolling Meadows coach Kevin Katovich. "Ian and Jack while juniors have been around a lot and they play like seniors. Both Ian and Jack's leadership was tremendous. They helped settle down the other players. When you walk out of here with a win it's a success."
Rolling Meadows improved to 7-1 and 2-0 in the conference while Prospect fell to 5-3 and 1-1.
Prospect had a hard time finding the rim in shooting 13 of 43 from the field. Yet, they used a fourth quarter spark to cut a 34-20 deficit to 38-34 with 1:35 left. During that span the Knights held Rolling Meadows scoreless for 3:02.
Drew Terpins, the only Knight in double figures, scored 10 of his 16 points in the quarter to help narrow the gap.
Terpins played a strong game at both ends of the court.
"Drew gave us a solid game," said Prospect coach Brad Rathe. "We built our offense around Ben Schneider (now injured) to start the season. Now we have to find the pieces to put things back together. Drew is one of those players."
After leading 7-4 at the end of the quarter the Mustangs led 17-10 at halftime.
Miletic, who also had 10 rebounds, scored 7 points in the third quarter as the Mustangs hit their first five shots for a 32-15 lead.
"We didn't panic when they closed the gap," said Miletic. "I think we have a few leaders on this team. We are all helping each other to be together.
"The loss to Maine South was a tough loss. We broke down the last few minutes of the game. We looked at that game as a learning experience than a loss. We took it to heart. Today I took pride in my rebounding and I think that got us going at times."
Junior Lazar Lazarevic scored 12 points to go with 5 rebounds. Duffer added 6 points. The Mustangs hit all 10 of their free throws and shot 50% from the field.
"The free throws were huge for us and helped solidify the victory," said Duffer. "They didn't have a chance to come back when we hit those free throws. Last year we had a lot of leadership from our seniors and we learned from them."