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New Trier denies MSL champ Prospect

It was one and done for the Mid-Suburban League boys basketball champions in the Class 4A regionals.

Prospect, which advanced to the regional title game thanks to a win earlier in the week, dropped a 53-35 decision to host New Trier on Friday in Winnetka.

Prospect (22-6), seeded seventh in the Maine East sectional, just could not drop any shots against a tall and very long second-seeded New Trier (24-5) team. To add to the poor shooting , Prospect just managed one offensive rebound.

"We got some good looks, they just were not falling," Prospect coach John Camardella said. "Obviously their length caused problems. It's to their credit that we couldn't get any rebounds."

Prospect shot 26 percent (9-of-35) from the field and just 5-for-19 from outside the arc.

"It's the one thing you can't teach, size," Camardella said. "This is obviously the largest team, tallest team and longest team we played all year."

Prospect also had trouble on the defensive end, trying to handle the Trevians' 6-foot-9 Ciaran Brayboy (14 points, 9 rebounds, 2 blocks), 6-5 Griffin Ryan (12 points, 7 rebounds) and 6-8 Spencer Boehm (6 points, 5 rebounds).

"Their ability to iso their bigs inside gave us problems," Camardella said. "We had to bring help. We had to do a lot of things defensively that were not a normal part of our tempo. Once you start chasing, you have to expend energy because it was spent on defense, and that takes your legs away."

Despite the size imbalance, Prospect stayed close through most of the first half.

The Knights had it tied at 9-9 before New Trier surged ahead for good with 5 unanswered points. From there it was a chase that the Knights would never win.

New Trier opened up a 24-16 lead at the half. But followers of the Knights knew that the second half has belonged to Prospect most of this season.

The Knights didn't disappoint when Johnny Czeslawski canned a 3-pointer and David Swedura added a pair of free throws to make it 24-21. After a defensive stop, Prospect had an opportunity to pull even, but a 3-point try by the Knights went awry.

That opened the floodgates as New Trier ran off 13 unanswered points to grab a 37-21 lead with 1:20 left in the third quarter. New Trier coach Scott Fricke said that was the turning point of the game.

"The biggest time of the game was in the third quarter when Prospect hit a 3 and made 2 free throws," Fricke said. "We withstood that, like our team team has done. This team is a tough, gritty team and we have been like that all year."

Prospect never got closer than 12 from there, but Fricke said he wasn't feeling confident yet.

"The potent offense they have, and the way they shoot 3s . . . I wasn't comfortable with two minutes to go," Fricke said. "I really wasn't. I have seen them barrage teams."

But that offense was not to come as the season ended suddently for the MSL champions. Swedura finsised with 11 points, while Czeslawski and Sam Murray each had 6 points and Jalen McLachlan and Jon Kreidler each had 5 points.

Camardella was proud of the way his team played all season.

"I know our guys are disappointed," Camardella said. "No regrets, I thought they left everything out there. The expectations from the outside weren't very high, but I think the expectations from the inside were real high. I think that is something that is a credit to these teenagers. Sometimes we don't give our teenagers enough credit."

Swedura, who finished his career with 1,030 points, said poor shooting doomed the Knights.

"It was a tough way to go down," Swedura said. "I am proud of the way my guys came out. It was a rough night shooting. It was just one of those days when we couldn't get the ball in the rim. I wouldn't trade any one of my teammates for anyone."

Tim Lussenhop said his team never backed down.

"It was a tough night and shots were just not falling," Lussenhop said. "It is a credit to all our guys, we still played hard against their big guys. We didn't back down, even with the tough atmosphere. I am still real proud of our guys."

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