advertisement

Elk Grove retains share of East lead

There's a little more breathing room at the top of the Mid-Suburban East boys basketball race.

Host Elk Grove cashed in at the free throw line, converting 24 of 37 free throws to ease past Prospect 74-61 on Saturday night.

Elk Grove stays atop the conference with a 10-4, 4-1 record while the Knights fell to 8-7 and 3-2.

With Hersey's win over Wheeling on Saturday night, the Huskies are also 4-1 in the East. The Grenadiers will be out to avenge a 64-50 loss to Hersey in December when Elk Grove and the Huskies meet Saturday.

Joey Gatziolis hit 8 of 10 shots from the field and was 6-for-9 at the line to lead the Grens against Prospect with 22 points. Tyler Ingebrigtsen had one of his better games this year with a 21-point, 12-rebound effort. Dan Hadler added 13 points and had the key play just before the halftime break.

"When Dan blocked the 3-point attempt," said Elk Grove coach Anthony Furman, "he was able to deflect the ball to Tyree Howard. Hadler raced down court and took the pass from Howard to score to give us the 31-25 halftime lead."

Prospect started the second half with a 5-0 run to close to 31-30. But Elk Grove responded with a 7-0.

After it was tied at 39, Elk Grove finished the quarter with a 10-0 spurt that kept the Grenadiers ahead for good.

"We had to slow them down in the second half said Furman. "They had made 5 three pointers and had 7 offensive rebounds. We had to lock it down a little better."

"It was just a game of runs," said Knights coach John Camardella about the third quarter. "We missed on some major opportunities on both ends of the floor. We were able to cut it to 6 in the fourth quarter but couldn't cut it any closer. Tonight, the better team won.

"I can't say enough about Kyle Beyak. He scored a career-high 28 points and had 5 assists."

Sophomore Frankie Mack was the Knights only other double-figure scorer with 11 points.

Gatziolis scored only 2 points in the first half, on a pair of free throws. The junior guard then was able to work his way into the paint and hit 8 second-half baskets, with 4 in each quarter.

"He just took the ball inside and made some high-percentage shots," said Furman. "He was very assertive tonight. He played real well. Ingebrigtsen and Hadler had big games also. We received good play from the other starters and guys that came off the bench were relentless. We got some good leadership play from our seniors."

Ingebrigtsen scored 14 of his 21 points in the second half and connected on 9 of 11 free throws. Hadler's game was steady throughout.

"We know we're going to have our hands full the second go-round in the conference," said Furman.

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.