Wheeling tops Prospect in MSL East
Wheeling's boys basketball team started the new year by knocking the Mid-Suburban East leader from its spot atop the division.
The Wildcats bested visiting Prospect 51-48 behind a 16-point performance from Nick Janulis, who canned three 3s.
T.J. Best had 11 points and Charlie Zettek contributed 8 as Wheeling (5-10, 1-3) picked up its first MSL East victory.
Prospect (8-7, 3-1) lost its second straight and slipped into a first-place tie for the division lead with Elk Grove.
The Knights were without three key players due to injury — Frankie Mack, Antonio Gardner and Dan Marshall.
David Swedura paced Prospect with a game-high 18 points. But the Knights were out-rebounded 21-14 and allowed Wheeling to shoot 10-for-20 from 3-point range.
“I am really happy for our players because we played good team basketball and beat a quality MSL East team,” said Wheeling coach Michael O'Keeffe. “This is a great way to start the second half of the season and we are looking forward to playing winning basketball the rest of the year.”
Maine West 48, Highland Park 31: Julian Dones made five 3s as the host Warriors earned their first Central Suburban North victory of the year.
Maine West only took 9 field goal attempts from 2-point range and managed to shoot 11-for-25 from 3-point territory.
The Warriors (3-10, 1-3) also got 8 points from Alan Rathapill and a pair of 3s from Stefan Balaban.
Key to the outcome was Maine West's defense, which held Highland Park to 3 points in the fourth quarter. The Warriors snapped a nine-game losing streak, and coach John Bongiorno is looking forward to seeing more wins as conference play continues.
“We'd been telling the kids to forget about what happened so far, to look forward to each as an opportunity for us,” he said. “It sure worked out well tonight.”
Schaumburg Christian 54, Cornerstone Christian 38: The visiting Conquerors (7-1) extended their winning streak to seven games in their first game since mid-December.
Guard Tyler Keller led the way for Schaumburg Christian with 21 points, and Michael Petrella had 16.