Cashaw carries Stevenson past Prospect

Based on his first-quarter performance, Stevenson junior Connor Cashaw was on track to score 64 points on Wednesday night. Which might have made national news if he completed that task.

After one quarter in Lincolnshire, Cashaw led visiting Prospect 16-9. No, he didn’t maintain that pace the rest of this nonconference game, but the damage was already done.

Stevenson (5-0) never trailed as Cashaw and teammate Jalen Brunson (27 points) combined for 52 points in a 70-56 win over the Knights.

To Prospect coach John Camardella, the performance was no surprise. That’s because he’s watched this Cashaw fellow before and, for that matter, his older brother, Colby.

“I’ve seen these Cashaws for awhile,’’ Camardella said. “And for 364 days a year, I cheer for them. He and Brunson are two of the most talented players we’ve had in the Northwest suburbs in a long time.”

After the first quarter, Cashaw seemed content to let Brunson and his other teammates take over from there.

For fans who stayed to the very end, the two juniors put on a show worthy of a big stage.

First, Brunson had one of those no-look passes to Cashaw for an easy layup. That came with three minutes to play. Brunson scored his last bucket of the contest with a gorgeous drive to the hoop.

Now, back to that first-quarter blitz, as Camardella called it, that Cashaw put on.

“It was great,’’ Cashaw said. “My teammates put me in great position.”

Despite the early deficit, Prospect stuck around. Junior guard Kyle Beyak hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the second quarter and the gigantic Stevenson lead was down to 34-24.

“At times we played outstanding,’’ said Stevenson coach Pat Ambrose. “And at times, we stunk up the joint. But that Prospect team is good. They can shoot the ball. They made us pay.”

Brunson seemed content to let Cashaw have his special night in the first quarter. The stylish guard waited to the second quarter to show what he could do. He closed his team’s scoring before halftime with a 3-pointer and he had 13 points at the break.

It seems this team’s two stars spent plenty of summer hours working on their skills.

“Jalen and I would play one-on-one every day at Lifetime in Vernon Hills,’’ Cashaw said.

Cashaw isn’t ready to head to college basketball just yet.

“I’m still a work in progress,’’ he said. “I’ve got to get better at defense.”

Bobby Frasco’s third quarter 3-pointer cut the Patriots lead to 44-33.

However, again the Pats answered with back-to-back 3-pointers from Matt Morrissey and Brandon Hwang.

Beyak paced the 3-2 Knights with 16 points. Frasco added 12.

Morrissey backed up his team’s leading scorers with 9 points.

“Morrissey is such a good athlete,’’ Camardella said. “His feet are always balanced.”