On balance, Prospect prevails
Prospect’s offensive balance makes it a difficult team to defend.
The Knights share the ball and have several 3-point shooters capable of swinging the game’s momentum.
All those elements helped propel Prospect to a 68-47 victory against visiting Buffalo Grove on Friday night.
The Knights led by 10 points after the first quarter and by 11 at the half, but midway through the third quarter they were battling a Buffalo Grove run that made it a 5-point game.
After a timeout, Prospect closed the third quarter on an 11-3 run, during which guards Bobby Frasco, Kevin Kapka and Tommy Flahaven each hit a 3-pointer.
“We’re just a bunch of hard workers,” said Frasco, who scored 17 points. “We’re all for one goal. It’s just a hard-working place, Prospect is.”
It’s also the place of the MSL East co-leaders, as the Knights have share of the division lead alongside Elk Grove.
Prospect (6-2, 3-0) coach John Camardella said during the timeout he told his players they needed to have better decision-making with the ball, and that there were certain areas on the floor that were open for kick-out passes that would lead to open 3-point attempts.
There were times in the second and third quarters where Prospect took some quick shots that played into Buffalo Grove’s need to increase the pace of play. Camardella said afterward that a coach can’t try to control the game, and that a team needs to make mistakes to learn from them.
“You just hope the mistakes don’t cost you games,” Camardella said. “I talk a lot with our guys that a relationship with trust is key. It’s our bedrock. I trust them, and they are trusting of me that when we talk, and we have conversations, that we adjust the offense and adjust the defense based on their actions.
“They’ve been so receptive to getting better. It makes it fun to coach. It makes it fun to be around. I’m looking forward to the next game.”
Flahaven missed Prospect’s last game with the flu, but showed no ill effects against the Bison. He scored a team-high 19 points, with 12 of them coming in the second half.
“He (Camardella) always tells us that first pass doesn’t always need to be the scoring pass,” Flahaven said. “It’s not always the first pass. You have to make the second and third pass, and then it’s the scoring pass. We really kept our composure and hit the open guys. And hit our shots.”
Seniors Mike Houghton (7 points, 11 rebounds) and Devin O’Hara (7 points, 6 rebounds) made numerous hustle plays for the Knights. Prospect outrebounded Buffalo Grove 39 to 16.
“If you have a team that has bigger size, and they are more aggressive, they are going to outrebound you,” Buffalo Grove coach Ryan O’Connor said. “We didn’t neccissarily do a good job of negating their height by being aggressive and being quick. I think we, quite frankly, got outhustled on the boards.”
Senior guard Luke Potnick scored a game-high 21 points, and hit five 3-pointers for the Bison. Andrew Apel and Kevin Newman each added 6 points for Buffalo Grove (4-5, 1-2).
“When it came to the fourth quarter, Prospect stepped up and made a lot of shots,” O’Connor said. “There were some shots that really, I thought, we were pretty comfortable with them taking, and to their credit their kids knocked them down. And they didn’t do that for a stretch in the third quarter.”