Maine West notches win over Prospect
Short-handed Maine West made short work of Prospect Saturday.
Playing without starting point guard Justin Scholler and Isaiah Siem-Davis, who were both suspended for one game after an altercation in Friday night's loss to Deerfield, Maine West recovered nicely to drill Prospect 51-36 in nonconference boys basketball action in Des Plaines.
"It was a rough night (Friday) night," Maine West coach Tom Prokopij said. "We knew we had to bounce back. The kids were focused and ready to. It was great that we had this game scheduled."
Maine West got a big performance from Danny Kentgen, who finished with a career-high 14 points including a trio of 3-pointers.
"It was big win for us," Kentgen said. "We had that altercation last night. We accepted it and moved on. We just kind of came together for a big win."
Both Maine West (4-3) and Prospect, which also played Friday night, looked like they were still home napping in a very sluggish first quarter.
Prospect (4-4) ran off the final 8 points of the quarter to lead 13-9. The Knights then scored the first bucket of the second quarter to lead 15-9 with 5:38 left in the first half.
That's when the Knights fell off their horse.
Prospect went scoreless for the next 9:31, missing 14 shots in the process.
Maine West took advantage of Prospect's poor shooting to score 20 unanswered points to lead 29-15 with 4:19 left in the on a putback by Danny Rice.
It was the 6-foot-6 Rice and the 6-4 Kentgen who kept Prospect from getting close to the basket on the offensive end.
"We got some height on them," said Rice, who finished with 13 points, 10 rebounds and 2 blocks.
"We took advantage of that. We just clogged up the middle and the inside."
After Prospect finally ended its scoring drought, Maine West poured it on from outside the arc. The Warriors canned four 3-pointers as they extended their lead to 42-23 with 7:29 on a trey by Rice.
Prospect refused to go away and began to pressure Maine West. The Knights scored the next 7 points on their way to a 10-2 run to pull with 12 at 44-32 with 5:36 to play.
Despite forcing 10 fourth-quarter turnovers, Prospect could not get any closer. The Knights' poor shooting followed them and they finished shooting just 22 percent (13-of-58) and were just 5-of-37 from outside the arc.
"I felt that everything was there tonight except makes," Prospect coach John Camardella said. "We tried to muddy it up in the fourth quarter and we had plenty of opportunities."
Prospect was led by Ben Zellmer, who had 14 points, and Ben Miller and Sam Murray, who each had 7 points.
AJ Ross chipped in 10 points for Maine West, which hit eight 3-pointers for the game.