Unhappy ending for Prospect as LaTulip returns
Prospect was hoping for better things Tuesday night when it hosted Evanston in a boys nonconference game.
Senior guard and leading scorer Joe LaTulip was making his first appearance since a knee injury sidelined him Jan. 8.
It was the Wildkits who had their way at Jean Walker Field House with a convincing 76-46 win over the 15-6 Knights in Mount Prospect.
"We were just flat from the start, " said Prospect coach John Camardella. "A lot of things went wrong for us tonight. We have to regroup and have a couple of strong practices and get ready for Wheeling Friday night."
What went wrong for the Knights was the aggressive half-court pressure defenses Evanston (12-10) employed.
"We had practiced against their press," said Camardella. "Then they come out and don't use it. They used box-and-one, 2-3 zone, 3-2 zone and I think it confused us."
Evanston used their defensive rebounding to produce fastbreaks that made the night difficult on Prospect.
The Knights trailed 34-24 just into the third quarter but a 11-1 run by Evanston put away the game.
Garrett Jones led Evanston with 22 points and James Farr came off the bench to score 21 points. Ryan Frazier-Chambers netted 14 points for Evanston, which shot 62 percent (34-for-55).
"Their guards make them go," said Evanston coach Bobby Locke. "We couldn't let them get going. Tonight we got good defensive stops and some tips."
Joe LaTulip led Prospect with 9 points and three 3-pointers after missing six games. Mike LaTulip added 7 points as Prospect shot 26 percent (16-for-60).
Buffalo Grove 59, Loyola 43: A 25-8 fourth quarter drove Buffalo Grove (14-9) to its third straight win as Nick Prus had a game-high 21 points and three 3s.
"They really had us on our heels in the third quarter," BG coach Ryan O'Connor said of getting outscored 14-6, "but we adjusted nicely in the fourth quarter and got back to playing our game."
Kevin Mulligan had 10 points, 8 assists, 7 rebounds and 3 steals and Mike Cornely scored 10 points for BG.
Hersey 69, Lake Park 51: Kyle Miklasz scored a career-high 27 points as Hersey (12-10) broke a three-game losing streak in Arlington Heights.
Miklasz hit three 3s, Tom Sutrinaitis scored 15 points and Jordan Mertes added 11 points for the Huskies, who led 30-24 at halftime and 46-33 after three.
"We played better defensively," said Hersey coach Steve Messer. "We did try to push the ball and that's a little of our renewed focus.
"We want to push it up and attack and be aggressive and not worry about mistakes."
The only time Hersey scored more points this season was a 72-49 win over Clark in the opener Nov. 23.
Leyden 56, Maine West 40: Leyden (11-11) won for the third time in four games as Mike Woolf and Brandon Stinson combined to equal the entire total of Maine West (7-16) in the nonconference game in Des Plaines.
Woolf had 27 points and hit five 3s and Stinson had 13 points and three 3s for the Eagles. Alex Sameulson had 19 points as the Warriors lost for the fifth time in six games.
Maine East 75, Wheeling 66: Tyler Shapiro scored 16 points and Ricky Schwind and Kevin Kortum had 12 apiece for Wheeling (3-19) in its 10th straight loss. Maine East (5-17) snapped a nine-game losing streak as Nuse Khan scored 35 points after hitting 36 against Hoffman Estates on Saturday.
Postponements: Rolling Meadows' home game with Round Lake was postponed and rescheduled to Feb. 17 at 7 p.m.
Conant's game at Deerfield was postponed but no reschedule date has been announced.