Prospect beats adversity, Glenbrook South
Prospect had a lot to overcome in Tuesday night's nonconference boys basketball game with visiting Glenbrook South at Jean Walker Field House.
Leading scorer and returning all-area guard Joe LaTulip, who committed Friday to play at Illinois Wesleyan, was out with a dislocated right knee he suffered later that night in a win over Wheeling.
And Tuesday night, the Knights trailed by 8 points midway through the third quarter and by 3 points in the final minutes.
But a career night from senior Jack Redding and a big second-half off the bench by Matt Loebbaka helped the Knights (12-3) pull out a 56-55 victory over the Titans (3-12).
"It's always tough to lose a leader like Joe," said Redding, who scored a career-high 26 points and had 8 rebounds. "But we had to battle back from everything and work harder than we usually do."
The 5-foot-10 LaTulip, who averages 17 points and 4 assists a game, had an MRI performed Tuesday and will get the results this morning.
"We're holding out hope," said Prospect coach John Camardella of the third-year varsity player.
Eddie Gerdes and Grant DePalma did most of the ballhandling for the Knights with Redding helping out as well.
Loebbaka, a 6-foot-5 junior who hadn't scored a point in four games, didn't play in the first half Tuesday but finished with 7 points and had 4 offensive rebounds.
"He was biding his time and waiting his turn - and he sparked the comeback with Jack," Camardella said.
"He was on the offenisve glass from the time he came in and he stepped up big," Redding said. "We weren't expecting that from him."
Glenbrook South, which got 13 points from Chris Bauer, used a 9-0 run to take a 55-52 lead. But Loebbaka hit 2 free throws, Redding scored off his own miss off an inbound from Sam Pope with about 40 seconds left and the Titans missed a 12-foot runner in the lane in the final seconds.