Collins Beats The Buzzer At CSL Showcase

Mekhi Collins has spent most of the season backing up Vito Rocca for Evanston’s basketball team.

And even when Rocca missed a couple of weeks with an injury, the result wasn’t more playing time for the 6-foot-6, 270-pound Collins.

But a couple of hours after Rocca was recognized as the Central Suburban League South Division Player of the Year, Collins swallowed up the spotlight as “player of the game” for ETHS at the CSL Showcase game at Niles North.

Collins’ rebound basket with one second remaining lifted the Wildkits to a 72-70 victory in a matchup of division champions Wednesday night in Skokie.

Perhaps the most unlikely hero among the 16 players who suited up for Evanston in the regular season finale, Collins replaced Rocca when his classmate fouled out on one of the most egregious offensive foul calls of this or any season at the 3:19 mark of the fourth quarter.

The big man came through in a big moment when Tate Schroeder missed a 3-point shot from the corner, as Evanston improved to 24-6 and defeated the Vikings (21-8) for the second time this season.

The two division champs could meet again a week from Friday in the Class 4A Evanston Regional tournament title game. Evanston, the No. 2 seed overall in the Loyola Academy Sectional, will play either Niles West or Chicago Mather in the regional semifinals next Wednesday at 6 p.m. and Niles North is matched against Maine South in the other semi.

Collins didn’t make the mistake of just ball-watching with the game on the line, even though Schroeder is shooting 40 percent from 3-point range this season. He did his job and the Wildkits escaped with the win after leading by 14 points midway through the third quarter.

Collins collected 5 rebounds in 4 minutes --- including 4 offensive rebounds --- and also contributed a key free throw to tie the game at 68-all with 1:43 remaining in regulation play. Schroeder showed the way for the winners with 18 points, followed by all-CSL South selections Ben Ojala (16), Dion Lane Jr. (10), Timi Ogunsanya (9) and Rocca (8).

Don’t tell the 6-6 junior that Wednesday contest was meaningless, even though the CSL doesn’t acknowledge the matchup as an actual “championship” game and fewer than 500 spectators were in attendance.

It meant a lot to him to score the first game-winning basket of a career where he’s played more football than basketball.

“I guess it’s God’s plan. Everything happens for a reason,” Collins shrugged. “You’ve just got to step up when your number is called. And when they called my name, I was ready.

“Every game matters and we tried tonight to send Niles North a message because we might play them again. We wanted to let them know that we’re still here.

“When Tate shot that ball, I definitely thought it was going in. He’s such a great shooter and I always think it’s going in when he shoots. But I had to stay ready, too. Rebounding has been a struggle for us all year and my teammates know that Mekhi will go do it when we need it.”

Head coach Mike Ellis knows it, too.

“Mekhi did a great job. He got 5 rebounds in 4 minutes, and it’s a credit to him for playing right to the (final) horn like he did,” Ellis said. “I really liked his disposition tonight. He played like he wasn’t afraid of the moment, but he didn’t try to do too much. He just came in to fit in. He knocked in a huge free throw. And he did a great job not panicking there at the end. What a cool, calm finish that was.

“We didn’t come out ready to play again tonight. They have to understand right from the start that other people are coming onto the floor trying to take you out. We need to start learning those lessons.”

The Wildkits spotted North a 10-point lead in the first quarter, then regrouped after Ellis yanked all five starters for a couple of minutes. Ojala fired in 10 points in the second period, and Lane’s back-door basket off a feed from reserve Desi Israelite plus two Dillon Pompey free throws late in the quarter boosted the visitors to a 45-32 halftime lead.

Personal fouls piled up on the Kits after that and that allowed the Vikings to creep back into contention at the free throw line. Ojala, Rocca and Ogunsanya were all whistled for third personals by the time the quarter ended, still in Evanston’s favor up 60-52.

Rocca’s layup after Lane forced a turnover at the defensive end and a 3-point bomb by Schroeder kept the Kits on top at 67-58. That’s when things started to unravel.

Rocca had to go to the bench with his fourth personal at the 4:13 mark, came back a minute later and then had to sit down for good when he was undercut by North’s Mustaf Rexhepi while attempting to catch a pass in the lane --- and was nailed with foul No. 5.

The Vikings finally regained the lead at 68-67 on a fast-break bucket off a turnover by the North Division Player of the Year, junior Collin Tobin, who led all scorers with 19 points but misfired on five of his 11 tries at the free throw line.

Collins split a pair of free throws following his first offensive rebound of the night. Then, after Rexhepi was way off target 16-foot shot, Ojala dropped in a clutch jumper from the free throw line with 40 seconds remaining.

The Vikings got even one more time, answering with a 16-footer from Rayne Punzai (10 points) with 20 seconds to play.

“We had a big stop in there at one point and that helped us seize control again,” Ellis pointed out. “Niles North shot 10 more free throws than we did (converting 19-of-27 compared to 12-of-17 for ETHS) and give them credit because they were so aggressive. They didn’t settle for 3s and they got downhill on us a lot.

“We’ve been on both ends of this game before, when it’s either been meaningful, or it’s been a reward for the guys who don’t get to play as much as the starters like it was for us last year. It’s a showcase but I’m not sure there’s a clearcut path that sets you up for the highest chance of success in the postseason.”

Ellis added that athletic directors at all 12 schools are considering a Showcase closer to the start of the season, instead of the current setup that pits North teams against South teams according to their order of finish in the final standings on the last Tuesday of the regular season.

One alternative Ellis and others might favor is a possible six-game crossover slate of contests at the same site in one day, perhaps the first Saturday in December. Schools would only have to host such an event once every 12 years, and the conference schedule could be pushed back to the final Friday of the regular season.