A banner night: Christie brothers honored at halftime of Rolling Meadows win vs. Buffalo Grove

It was a night of celebrations in Rolling Meadows on Friday.

The Mustangs welcomed home NBA stars Max and Cameron Christie. The brothers, who are on a break during the NBA All-Star Weekend, came home to visit. The pair were honored at halftime of Rolling Meadows’ 75-42 victory against Buffalo Grove when a banner was unveiled in their honor.

“It is definitely great to come home and be around the old stomping grounds,” said Max Christie, who was recently traded to the Dallas Mavericks from the Los Angeles Lakers, who originally drafted him.

Cam Christie is playing for the Los Angeles Clippers after a season at the University of Minnesota.

“It is crazy to think that just two years ago I was here,” Cam Christie said. “It is a great time to come back and say hi to everyone.”

Both Max and Cam had overtures from many area high schools and other nationally known programs to transfer from Rolling Meadows. But both opted to stay home and play basketball with the friends they grew up with.

Rolling Meadows High School not only honored the pair for their tremendous success, but also for their loyalty. The banner with both of their names will find a home in the southeast corner of the gym.

“It just goes to show the character of those guys and the whole Christie family,” Rolling Meadows coach Kevin Katovich said. “It is an All-Star Weekend and they are coming to a high school basketball game. It is a testament to who they are as people. We wanted to do something special and our school was fantastic and there were a lot of people who made it happen. It was a great night for the Rolling Meadows community.”

Max and Cam were touched by the banner.

“It was a great gesture,” Max said. “It is great for Cam and I to be recognized at a place like this. We appreciate coach Katovich and everyone else here for everything they did. It is great to feel the appreciation and love from everyone here. It is humbling to come back and see where it all started.”

“Loyalty has always been a big thing for both of us,” Cam added. “We wanted to represent our home city and play with the guys we grew up with up with. It is super cool to see how much the community has given back to us. That banner is going to be up there forever. Max and my legacy has been immortalized. It means so much to us.”

Max said he is settling in at Dallas after the Lakers traded him a week ago to the Mavericks. He looked like he is settling in quite nicely, scoring 19 points in Thursday’s 118-113 win over Miami.

“It is a bit of a whirlwind, but I am finding my footing in Dallas,” Max said. “I am enjoying it so far. We have won a couple of games and I am in a good spot right now. I am playing well and that is good.”

Cam is also settling in with the Clippers. Just like Max in his first season, Cam has been going back and forth between the G League. Cam has been back with the Clippers for the past few games and scored 5 points in just three minutes of play earlier this week.

“It has been going very well,” Cam said, “Obviously, it has been a process as a rookie and trying to adjust to everything. It has been great and I have great teammates to learn from. I am on a great winning team. So it is trying to pick up things from the vets.”

Earlier in the evening Friday, the Mustangs honored their 10 seniors from this season in a pregame ceremony. Ian Miletic, who is headed to play at Marquette next season, played varsity ball with Max when Miletic was a freshman. He also played three years with Cam.

“We are a great shooting team,” Miletic said. “It was a great motivation to have Max and Cam here. It was also senior night. So we are just playing for each other like we do every night.”

Miletic and his Rolling Meadows teammates showed how excited they were to play in front of their former schoolmates in their game against Buffalo Grove.

The Mustangs drilled a school-record 18 3-pointers with Miletic converting five of them in the big win. The win gave Rolling Meadows (24-4, 10-0) a perfect season in the MSL East. The Mustangs, who have won five consecutive East titles, have won 49 of 50 games during that span.

Rolling Meadows will host West champion Fremd on Wednesday night for the MSL title.

“That should be fun,” Katovich said. “They are a great team.”

Buffalo Grove (10-19, 4-6) got off to a terrific start. Each of the Bison starters each scored a basket as Buffalo Grove jumped to a 12-4 lead.

Miletic then ignited the Mustangs.

His three-point play set off a scoring barrage of 3-pointers by Meadows. The Mustangs went on a 29-9 run, hitting nine 3-pointers during the stretch as they took a 33-21 lead.

Rolling Meadows led 40-28 at the half and 60-37 after three quarters. Three-pointers by Miletic, Jack Duffer and Gavin Escobedo to start the fourth quarter sent the game to a running clock.

“We knew that Buffalo Grove played kind of a soft zone,” said Miletic, who finished with 27 points. “We knew that we had the advantage of being able to shoot and especially push it up in transition.”

Escobedo had 12 points, Jaeden Warrener 10 points, Duffer and Lazar Lazarevic each had 8 points and Ryan Meyer 5 points. The Mustangs shot 55% from outside the arc.

Buffalo Grove was led by Alex Siri, who had 10 points and 7 rebounds. Edwin Karnauchovas had 8 points, while Maddix Watson and Petros Bolos each had 5 points.

“We came out with good energy,” Buffalo Grove coach Kevin Geldon said. “They did a nice job of responding to that. And as the game wore on, the talent that Rolling Meadows has and the shots that they were making were just too much tonight. We still have positive things to build off.”