advertisement

Unified effort lifts Prospect past Buffalo Grove

For all the injuries and shuffled lineups they've endured, Prospect's boys varsity basketball players have remained consistent about two things: Playing defense and having each other's backs.

With most of their starting lineup finally back intact Saturday night, the Knights displayed the defensive intensity and teamwork fluidity and depth that are their hallmarks in an impressive 68-39 Mid-Suburban East win at Buffalo Grove.

It wasn't lost on Frankie Mack, the leading scorer (13 points) just back from an injury.

"They've been there all year for us," Mack said of the bench. "Everyone picked up their game.

"We're a bunch of brothers. We're family."

The Knights (9-7, 4-1) never trailed, ran out to an 8-0 advantage and never led by less than 6 points, although usually it was double-digits.

"We haven't had the same starting lineup for a while now," Prospect coach John Camardella said before noting, "We've been getting production from all over. It's a different guy on a different night.

"They're selfless as heck."

They were Saturday night. While it was nice having Mack returning to the lineup, the Knights are still missing injured Dan Marshall, their acknowledged defensive ace, who did contribute a players-only pregame talk that clearly got everyone fired up.

While the Knights were sprinting to a 14-6 first-quarter lead, Buffalo Grove was uncharacteristically missing open looks and turning the ball over against Prospect's pressure. In fact, the Bison (6-10, 2-3) committed as many turnovers as they had first-half points, trailed 35-14 and never got within 20 again.

"Once the shots didn't go down," said Buffalo Grove coach Keith Peterson, "we kind of lost our intensity.

"Prospect did a great job. They took away a lot of things we like to do."

They didn't take away Jack Vaselaney, who had 15 points and shot 50 percent from the floor, but nobody else had more than 6 for BG.

And one thing no one could take away was the joy of the moment for longtime assistant coach Dave Sczepanski, who received his Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame plaque in a neat pregame ceremony.

But it was the Knights who played like future Hall of Famers. And it was primarily underclassmen. In addition to Mack, a junior, sophomore point guard David Swedura showed his prowess with a 12-point performance and outstanding decision-making. Junior Grant Whiteboom, like Swedura, off the bench, had 9 points, knocked down a pair of 3-pointers and was a defensive thorn for BG.

Michael Ritchie and Scott Baackes had 3-pointers as well and Matt Szuba, Mack and Ritchie enabled Prospect to a 28-20 rebounding advantage while everyone helped force BG into 16 of 42 shooting while forcing 19 turnovers out of the Bison. Prospect, indicative of their performance, only committed 8.

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.