The Mid-Suburban League title game is one of the last great conference championship events in the area. All the coaches and all-conference players and a gym full of fans gather to see which team brings home the trophy. Imagine how painful it is to lose that significant community event for three consecutive years.
That’s what Rolling Meadows dealt with over the past few seasons.
Wednesday was a chance to turn history around. Mustangs senior Ian Miletic and his teammates rose to the occasion in style.
“This meant a lot for our guys,” Miletic said. “We came out with a high level of energy and ultimately we had something to prove.”
Miletic, a Marquette recruit, was aggressive and efficient. He scored 20 points on 7 of 11 shooting to lead host Rolling Meadows to a 69-62 win against No. 18 Fremd.
“They became kind of like a freight train coming at you on offense,” Vikings coach Mike Brown said. “We couldn’t get enough stops. They are really good. We would have liked to have executed better but they came out hot.”
Rolling Meadows started hot and never really cooled off. The Mustangs, who set a school record with 18 three-pointers in their game Friday, shot 9 for 18 from three and 24 of 39 from the field.
“This is a really good shooting team,” Rolling Meadows coach Kevin Katovich said. “But what makes us a really good shooting team is they are unselfish. They share the ball. They are willing to find the open guy and they don’t really care who gets the credit.”
The Mustangs (25-4) led 54-41 after Ryan Meyer’s three-pointer late in the third quarter. Fremd charged back with a 6-0 run early in the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to 54-47. The Vikings made another run late and cut Rolling Meadows’ lead to 65-60 on Samuel Hirsch’s three-pointer with 52 seconds left.
Miletic and senior Jack Duffer went 4 for 6 at the free-throw line from then on to seal the win.
“We have a group of guys that are connected and all looking to achieve the same goal,” Miletic said. “It was a total team effort. Everyone did all the little things that add up to winning.”
Senior Lazar Lazarevic scored 13 points off the bench for Rolling Meadows. Gavin Escobedo added 12 points and 6-8 senior Patrick Coen finished with nine points for the Mustangs.
“[Lazarevic] wanted to come out tonight and prove that he’s a really good player,” Katovich said. “It was nice that he had the opportunity to do it in front of a big crowd.”
Junior Jordan Williams led Fremd (24-3) with 18 points and seven rebounds and Hirsch finished with 18 points and five rebounds. Junior Tommy Moffett scored 11.
Rolling Meadows and Fremd both have significant playoff goals. The Vikings are the No. 1 seed in the Class 4A Schaumburg sectional and Rolling Meadows is No. 2.
Last season, Palatine upset Rolling Meadows in the MSL title game and used it as a springboard for a Cinderella run to the state finals in Champaign.
“We’ve had that in our minds since last year,” Coen said. “This is the right time to start kicking it up as a team. Tonight was that first step. We want to take it up to the next level and make a run to Champaign.”