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Corning: Mundelein standout has passion for winningContinued, fnm ftige I years.“People didn’t get to see what he can do from the outside and personally, I know that he can play outside as well as any of the top guards in the (North Suburban) conference.“In practice, he took his game outside a lot. He’s got a really good shot and he can take the ball to the basket. I’ve guarded a lot of the top perimeter players in the conference and he wasthe toughest to guard.But we needed him to be our big man. I know he might not have gotten the (college) looks that he wanted, but all I can tell you is that we really appreciated him being in there for us. He had an amazing year.’’Corning certainly provided plenty of fireworks for Mustang fans.He reached the 30-point plateau at least five times, scored a career-high 35 points in a win over Grant and cameup with a monster 24-point game in late January to help deal Zion-Benton its first loss of the season.Meanwhile, he rocked the gym throughout the season with — by his recollection — three or four dunks. And he came up with dozens of clutch shots, too. The biggest one brought down the house in early January when he willed in a putback at the buzzer to defeat Stevenson.“I think Matt’s best attribute ishis desire to compete,” Wilhelm said. You could even see it in the locker room before games. He would start to get that focus. That competitiveness made him so tough on the court.I think that might be part of the reason Matt never complained once or made an issue out of playing inside instead of outside like he wanted. He just really wanted to win and he recognized that by him being inside, that gave us the best chance.It was a noble sacrifice. YetCorning says he's definitely no martyr because of it.“I’m still going to end up playing basketball in college. It may be at a smaller school, but it’ll be at a really good school,” said Corning, an honors student who aspires to be an orthopedic surgeon.“The schools that I’m looking at don’t take a back seat to anyone. I’m going to set myself up for what I want to do later in life and I feel pretty good about that. I’m going to be OK.”
Newspaper Details
Arlington Heights Daily Herald Suburban Chicago
Arlington Heights, Illinois, US
Fri, Mar 12, 2004
Page 284
Full Page
Clipped by
Thomas C.
USA 21 May 2025
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