Libertyville runs past Prospect for 3rd at Wheeling
It was still assistant coach night for both Prospect and Libertyville Thursday in the third-place game of the Wheeling Hardwood Classic.
Prospect head coach Brad Rathe and Libertyville head coach Brian Zyrkowski both were still in COVID protocols and not able to be on the bench.
But that did not mater to either team as Libertyville cruised past Prospect 65-44.
"I thought our guys competed well," Libertyville assistant coach Ricky Kolze said. "Prospect is always tough. Our guys have done real well. We have made some changes and coach Z is out. We added some new stuff and some defense on the fly."
Prospect jumped to a 12-10 lead at the end of the first quarter behind David Marshall and Alex Georgakas.
Libertyville then was able to find its range. Led by John Graham, the Wildcats opened the second quarter with an 8-2 run.
They weren't done.
After a 3-pointer by Marshall, which brought the Knights to 21-17 with 4:57 left in the half, Libertyville's offense then picked up speed. Behind Chase Bonder and Andrew Sorensen, the Wildcats scored the next 9 points on their way to close out the half on a 13-3 run and a 31-20 advantage at the break.
And Libertyville still wasn't done.
After a Marshall 3 cut it to 31-23, Libertyville powered to a 9-0 run to open up a 40-23 lead.
"One of the things we emphasize is getting the ball inside," said the 6-foot-8 Bonder, who had 24 points and 9 rebounds. "I give all my teammates credit for hitting the shots. That helped propel us to a win tonight."
Prospect made a last gasp to get back into the game. Led by Owen Schneider, the Knights closed to 45-33 early in the fourth quarter. But that was as close as Prospect would get.
"I thought I handled the ball well today," said Graham, who had 15 points and 5 rebounds. "I had very limited turnovers. I thought we moved well off the ball and got good shots and easy shots."
Kolze said his team's ability to put scoring runs together was one of the differences.
"When we came out in the first quarter, we weren't rebounding like we should," Kolze said. "At a timeout we made a change and that helped get us going on both ends of the court."
Jack Huber had 10 points while Will Buchert and Sorensen each had 6 points for the Wildcats.
Marshall led Prospect with 14 points thanks to 4 3-pointers. Charlie Gilmer had 9 points, Schneider 7 points, Georgakas 6 points and Patrick Freeman 5 points.
"I am really proud of our guys" Prospect assistant coach Bobby Reibel said. "We saw these guys our first game of the year and it wasn't a game. But tonight, it was a game for some of the game. I think that says a lot about our team. "