Prospect comes up big

When your outside shots aren't falling, it sure helps to have a couple of big guys who can dominate inside.

Enter 6-foot-6 Prospect frontcourt players Kevin Reed and Alex Toth.

With the Knights and visiting South Elgin both struggled with their outside shooting, Reed, Toth and 6-foot junior Jason Leblebijian helped Prospect hold off the Storm to score a 45-31 nonconference victory in Mount Prospect.

Leblebijian and Toth both scored 11 points, and a surge from Reed (10 points) early in the fourth quarter stonewalled a South Elgin rally.

"I was worried about this game," said Prospect coach John Camardella. "I wondered what our energy level would be after a disappointing weekend. Buffalo Grove and Glenbrook North really took it to us, but I'm proud of our guys to come out and play the way they did tonight."

Senior forward Stephen Carter led the Storm with 8 points, while 6-9 center Daniel Lopez contributed 5 points and 9 rebounds.

"Shooting," said South Elgin coach Chaz Taft when asked about the big reason for the loss.

"We just had a bad shooting night. We missed layups, point-blank shots, a lot of bunnies. It just wasn't there for us tonight."

The Storm hit only 1 of 13 from 3-point range.

"It was an awful shooting night by both teams," said Camardella.

Toth scored 7 points and recorded 4 of his 6 boards in the third quarter as Prospect opened a double-digit lead, but when the senior went to the bench with 4 fouls, South Elgin (5-5) closed the gap.

Three-point plays from Jeffrey Lewis and Erik Stade brought South Elgin to within 31-27 after three quarters.

Then Reed took over early the fourth. The junior grabbed a rebound that led to a Prospect basket, swatted away a South Elgin attempt and hit a layup at the other end, then made a sweet feed to Pat Ziegenfuss for a layup that brought the lead back to 10.

"(After their run) we talked about getting back to what was working for us," said Toth.

"We worked hard and got some open shots."

Free throws from Leblebijian and Jeff Heiden (7 points) helped close out the game for the Knights (5-5).

"We got close," said Taft, "but close doesn't cut it for us any more."

"We executed our sets and got open shots, but you've got to hit those open shots. We talk about holding our opponents to under 50 and we did that, but it doesn't do much good when we can't score 50."

Glenbrook S. 53, Palatine 32: A fast start for Palatine quickly dissolved into a runaway for Glenbrook South.

The Pirates jumped out to an 8-1 lead, but the Titans used a 28-2 run that stretched from the 5:30 mark of the first quarter right into halftime.

Glenbrook South (3-8) stretched their advantage to 29 points early in the fourth quarter in running away with a 53-32 nonconference victory in Glenview.

"They dominated from start to finish," said Palatine coach Ed Molitor whose team loss its fourth straight. "It was a case of them being ready to play and sustaining their effort. Our guys didn't."

Palatine (3-6) seemed to solve Glenbrook South's 2-3 zone in the first three minutes, as senior guard John Castellano found 6-foot-9 forward Josh Rustman inside. Castellano and senior guard Gerald Hutton then hit back-to-back 3-pointers, lifting the Pirates to an 8-1 advantage.

But it was all Glenbrook South from that point on, as Rustman picked up his second foul with 5:18 remaining in the first quarter and the Pirates misfired on their final 3 shots of the quarter.

The Pirates became tentative against the Titans' zone in the second quarter, and guard Anthony Brown scored 10 of his 14 points in the quarter, with 6-foot-9 center Jack Cooley adding 6 of his game-high 15 points.

"They had a little height advantage over us so we decided to go zone," said Cooley, who contributed 10 rebounds and 3 assists. "Our guards did very well on getting out on the 3-point shooters."

Palatine went 0-for-7 and had 5 turnovers on its first 10 possessions of the second quarter, while the Titans shot a sizzling 64 percent (9-of-14) for the quarter.

"We didn't shoot well and we quit defending," added Molitor, as the Titans increased their lead to 29-10 at halftime. "You have to do one of the two. Everything was a scramble from that point on. We tried to get back in it, but they wouldn't let us."

Glenbrook South also held a 15-8 rebounding advantage at the break, as Cooley had 6 of his points off of offensive rebounds.

"I was seeing they weren't boxing out, so I used it to my advantage," added Cooley.

The Titans extended their lead to 28 points late in the third quarter and Gus Fakhouri nailed a 3-pointer with 5:55 remaining to give Glenbrook South its largest lead at 49-20.

Senior Ron Lampen scored all of his 8 points in the final quarter, but the Pirates could get no closer than the final margin.

-- Michael Eaken