Prospect seals deal in MSL East
Prospect wanted to make sure there was a postgame celebration to go with the ones before its Mid-Suburban East boys basketball first-place showdown with Hersey.
A big crowd in Jean Walker Field House first saw the Knights’ current seniors honored. Then, members of the 1960-61 team — arguably the best in school history — were recognized on their 50th reunion.
“It was a great environment,” said Prospect senior Dan O’Brien. “We wanted to make sure we went out in style.”
The Knights did exactly that in a game they had to win. Beautiful ball movement and execution led to a 27-point fourth quarter as they pulled away to 77-65 victory and at least a share of their fourth straight East crown.
“Four-for-four under ‘Cuba’ (coach John Camardella) in the East,” said Prospect senior Matt Loebbaka, who had 15 points on 7-for-7 shooting and 6 rebounds. “We’ve shown glimpses, but it really came into focus tonight if we play together how good we can be.”
The Knights (13-7, 7-2) broke a 50-50 tie after three quarters by hitting 8 of 9 shots from the field in the final eight minutes to reverse a 60-59 loss to Hersey (13-10, 6-3) on Jan. 7.
Prospect became the first MSL team to win four straight division titles since Schaumburg (1999-2003) and holds all the tiebreakers to host the Feb. 23 league title game.
“I felt a lot of pressure from my older brother (Jack, all-area player last year),” Prospect senior Terry Redding said after he had 15 points and 10 rebounds. “He would call after every game and say, ‘Three in a row, you have to keep it going.’
“It’s a great relief knowing we’re going to that game.”
That was in doubt when Justin Jobski (16 points, 10 rebounds) scored 5 straight points to cap a 12-3 run that put Hersey up 47-42.
Prospect hit 10 of its last 13 shots to finish at 51 percent (26-for-51). Mike LaTulip hit all 9 of his free throws in the last 9:37 to finish 12-for-12 en route to a game-high 23 points.
But the credit was definitely shared as Prospect scored the first 8 points of the fourth. O’Brien had 9 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists, Grant DePalma had 7 assists and 6-foot-9 Will Botefuhr was a big first-half boost off the bench with 10 points.
“We’re at our best when we move the ball,” Redding said.
“We tried to talk to our guys about the distractions that would be present at this game,” Camardella said. “There were a lot of people our guys wanted to play well for.”
LaTulip helped limit Hersey senior Connor Miklasz to 15 points on 6-for-20 shooting from the field and 2-for-11 on 3s. Tom Sutrinaitis added 12 points and 9 rebounds and Sean Reszotko had 11 points.
Hersey shot just 39.3 percent from the field (24-for-61), 12-for-23 on free throws and 5-for-23 on 3s.
“There were several times in the first half and third quarter our lead could have been bigger,” said Hersey coach Steve Messer. “But it was the same problem with some poor decisions and breakdowns defensively.”