Rolling Meadows knocks off Wheaton Warrenville South to open season

BENSENVILLE – For the second straight year Rolling Meadows and Wheaton Warrenville South began their winter hoops campaigns in the opening night of the 36th edition of the Chuck Mitchell Tournament at Fenton.

And like last year it would be Rolling Meadows setting a victorious pace in a 55-36 win in Fenton’s Fieldhouse as the two teams met for the fourth time since the tournament came back after a two-year hiatus six years ago.

“I thought we got off to a good start (but) anytime you play Wheaton South it’s a hard matchup,” Meadows coach Kevin Katovich said. “What they do gives you some trouble (so) for the first game we’ll take it.”

The Mustangs (1-0) began to take control with the first of two surges that commenced in the final minute of the first quarter with a 10-0 tear left. That left them up 23-10 on Marquette recruit Ian Miletic’s 3-pointer with 5:09 remaining until half.

After five straight points by senior swingman Luca Carbonaro pulled the Tigers within 23-15 at the 3:40 mark, Meadows went on a 9-0 run featuring six of senior teammate Jack Duffer’s 12 points that left them comfortably ahead 32-15. The Mustangs led 34-20 at halftime.

WW South (0-1) would get no closer than 40-27 on a trey from Carbonaro (game-high 18 points) at the 3:36 mark of the third.

Miletic (team-high 14 points) spoke of how nice it was to face someone different than his teammates during the first two weeks of practice.

“We have a great group of guys (who) have been really working hard for this moment (especially) in practice where we’ve been building chemistry,” Miletic said.

Six-foot-eight senior center Patrick Coen added nine points for Meadows who takes on Montini in Tuesday’s 4:30 p.m. opening game. The Tigers return for a Wednesday night date at 7:30 p.m. with the tourney hosts.

“Our kids played hard. I thought we did some good things in spurts but we can’t turn the ball over the way we did (12 times),” WW South coach Mike Healy said. “I’m not disappointed. We like our schedule. We can learn a ton from today (and) get back at practice (Tuesday) and get better.”

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