Last year, as juniors, Marty Lesner and Kenan Pekovic of Rolling Meadows were role players for a senior-led Mustangs team that finished the year with a 30-5 record.

Now this season they are the senior leaders, in the starting five for Meadows, hoping to take a big step forward.

Wednesday evening at the 37th annual Fenton Chuck Mitchell Thanksgiving tournament turned out to be step one for Lesner, Pekovic and their teammates. They shook off a strong challenge from Wheaton Warrenville South in the final minutes to score a 42-37 victory.

The Mustangs (1-1), who graduated their entire starting lineup, rebounded from a disheartening loss Tuesday, 94-44 to Evanston, to get the win.

“That (loss to the Wildkits) was terrible, that was not us,” said Lesner, who scored 10 points, grabbed seven rebounds and recorded three steals against the Tigers. “We bounced back today.”

Wheaton Warrenville South played well, but couldn’t come all the way back after falling behind 9-0 in the first quarter.

“That hurt us,” said Tigers coach Mike Healy of the early deficit. “We were fighting ourselves a little bit.

“Meadows played really, really hard. Kevin (Mustangs coach Katovich) did a great job having them come back from what they went through last night.”

Junior guard David Showman came off the bench to score a game-high 12 points for WW South, while Pekovic led the Mustangs in scoring with 11 points.

“We want to come out this year and play well together, have fun, and win games,” said Pekovic. “I’m going to use my varsity experience (it’s his third year on varsity) to just relax in my head and slow the game down.”

Rolling Meadows senior Tyler Stankiewicz hit a turnaround layup with 3:21 remaining in the first quarter to give Meadows the quick 9-0 advantage.

WW South (1-1) fought back in the second quarter to close to within 25-18 at the break.

The Tigers kept the rally train rolling in the second half, and a 3-point play from senior Reece Franks with 7:43 left in the fourth quarter gave his team their first lead of the game at 33-31.

“It started to get nerve-wracking down the stretch,” said Pekovic, “but that’s basketball and that’s the fun part of it. I like it that way, and so does our team.”

The score was tied at 37-37 with under two minutes on the clock, but Lesner led the Meadows charge by scoring four consecutive points to make it 41-37 Mustangs.

WW South wouldn’t hit the scoreboard again, and a late free throw by Pekovic accounted for the final score.

“We’re going to continue to get better,” said Pekovic, “and start to put games away (earlier), not have close games with so much of a heart attack. But it was good tonight, we got the win.”

Stankiewicz, Andrew Krestel, and Sean Kerr each scored five points for Rolling Meadows.

AJ Rogers and Brady McClatchy tallied eight points apiece for WW South. Showman led his team on the boards with five.

“We talked to the kids,” said coach Healy of WWS, “that it’s early, and nobody right now wants to be at their ceiling. So it’s definitely not our ceiling right now.

“We’ll be with our families (on Thanksgiving), then come back Friday and try to get better individually. We’re not going to worry about the scoreboard (in the next few games), just take it possession by possession.

“I have a lot of faith in our guys. They’re putting a little bit of pressure on themselves right now, fighting and fighting, and sometimes that can go the wrong way. But we’ll get it figured out.”

https://www.dailyherald.com/20251126/boys-basketball/boys-basketball-new-look-rolling-meadows-tops-wheaton-warrenville-south/