At full strength, Prospect tops Wheeling

Prospect won Friday night’s home contest 65-24 against Wheeling thanks to a fantastic team effort, great defense and strong rebounding.

The most spectacular stretch was the second quarter, when the Knights outscored the Wildcats 20-0.

“It feels good to have our guys back,” said Prospect coach John Camardella, noting that guard Devin O’Hara had been out for three weeks recovering from football season. “There was a time a couple weeks ago where we were practicing with nine guys. It felt tonight like we were back in the groove of things.”

Prospect pulled down 43 rebounds compared to 19 for Wheeling, and the Knights also tallied 18 assists on their 26 made field goals. Senior guard Kevin Kapka had one of several impressive performances for Prospect. He finished the game with 12 points — on four 3-pointers — with 6 rebounds and 4 assists.

“We’re just a great group of guys,” Kapka said. “Outside of the court we are a great group of friends. We’re just unselfish on and off the court. I stepped up today, the next day someone else will step up. We don’t need to put pressure on one guy. We are all-around players who will be unselfish for each other.”

Senior forward Mike Houghton also had a big game for the Knights, finishing with 14 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists.

“We knew our defense had to carry us because every night we’re not going to be hot,” Houghton said. “So we had to rely on that to get our offense going.”

O’Hara added 8 points for Prospect (3-2, 1-0) and junior forward Danny Thomas had 7. Senior forward Jake Young also turned in a gritty performance. He didn’t score but pulled down 7 rebounds while coming off the bench.

“The nice part is we had contributions from very different guys,” Camardella said. “Kevin Kapka tonight, I can’t tell you how proud I am of him. He was a JV guy last year. Didn’t get a minute last year. Comes in (this year), and started a couple of games. He just worked and worked and worked.”

Wheeling (2-3, 0-1) was without junior guard Jeremy Stephani, who is the team’s primary offensive player. Wheeling coach Anthony Como said Stephani had an MRI on his ankle on Friday, and he will be out about a week before he is re-evaluated.

“He’s a three-year varsity starter, and could certainly give us a lift,” Como said. “There’s no doubt he could help us in the scoring department, but that’s not the only reason we lost.”

Junior guard Chris Pierro, and senior guard Will Andersen were Wheeling’s leading scorers with 7 points each.