Luke leads early surge for Hersey

Hersey needed most of the 19-point lead it built in the first 2½ quarters Thursday in its Mid-Suburban East boys basketball game against Prospect.

The Knights went on a 20-5 rampage over the next nine minutes to make a game of it.

Fortunately for the Huskies, they scored just enough in the final 2:41 to seal a 55-49 win in their home opener at Ken Carter Gymnasium.

Hersey's 1-2 punch of Luke Fabrizius (game-high 21 points, 6 blocked shots) and Griffin Dwyer (17 points) was too much for the Knights (4-3, 1-1). Their only double-figure scorer was sharp-shooting Jeff Heiden with 19 points and five 3-pointers.

"We came out ready to play," said Fabrizius, who scored 11 first-quarter points. "Then they came on strong. We let them get back into the game."

A pair of baskets by Bobby Gehm sandwiched around a basket by Fabrizius gave Hersey a 42-23 lead with 4:57 left in the third quarter.

While Dwyer's 3-pointer with 3:04 remaining kept Hersey from being shut out the rest of the quarter, Prospect was heating up. The Knights cut the lead to 47-42 when Alex Toth (9 points) made 1 of 2 free throws at the 2:51 mark.

"Prospect did a nice job playing defense, and we fell in love with the jump shot instead of attacking the basket," said coach Steve Messer after winning his first home game as Hersey's coach on the court where he played his high school ball. "Any success we've had was from attacking the basket."

Heiden hit a couple of 3s for Prospect's last 6 points, but Dwyer, Fabrizius and Demetriy Velikov (7 points) scored the points that iced the victory.

"We were sluggish in the first half," said Prospect coach John Camardella, who also played at Hersey. "We've done that two games in a row. At Conant, we got down 12 before cutting it down to 4."

Part of Prospect's woes could have been directly attributed to Fabrizius' quick start, as he made 5-of-7 from the field and a 3-pointer.

"Fabrizius is a Division I player, and the shots he makes are tough to defend," Camardella said. "The pressure we worked on all week wasn't there."

"They had a good plan for us tonight," Messer said. "We were not as aggressive. You saw what got them back into the game, solid defense."

The Huskies came out with an early third-quarter blitz that might have sent other teams packing. They outscored the Knights 11-2 at the start of the quarter, but the visitors weren't finished.

"You can't take anything for granted in the East," Fabrizius said. "You have to stay focused. We were up 19, and it disappeared. You can't relax."