Wrap: Prospect topples South Elgin
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 front court players Kevin Reed and Alex Toth.
With the Knights and visiting South Elgin both colder than the temperature outside, Reed, Toth and 6-foot junior Jason Leblebijian helped Prospect hold off the Storm to score a 45-31 non-conference boys basketball victory in Mount Prospect Tuesday night.
Leblebijian and Toth both scored 11 points, and Reed's (10 points) surge 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," agreed 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 in early the fourth. The junior grabbed a rebound that led to 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."
Boys basketball
Buffalo Grove 55, Prairie Ridge 47: Buffalo Grove saved its best for last.
Trailing by as many as 14 in the first half, the Bison outscored Prairie Ridge 20-11 in the fourth quarter to rally for a 55-47 victory in a nonconference game in Crystal Lake Tuesday night.
"To say we really struggled in the first half is an understatement," said Bison boss Ryan O' Connor. "Give Prairie Ridge credit; they really pressured us. In the second half, we had better spacing on offense. We settled down and we had great senior leadership when we needed it."
Buffalo Grove (8-1) trailed the entire game before senior Brian DeSimone nailed a 12-footer in the lane with 7:33 remaining to give the Bison the lead for good, 37-36.
Buffalo Grove kept the momentum going and ripped off 9 straight points without an answer from the Wolves (1-9).
DeSimone had a putback, Paul Timko canned a 3-pointer and Kevin Mulligan hit a 12-footer as the Bison turned a 1-point deficit into a 8-point lead, 44-37 with 5:11 left.
PR battled back and got to within 3, 47-44, after a layup by Bryan McGinn with 3:22 remaining.
The Bison sealed the win by making 8 of 8 free throws in the final 1:33. DeSimone, Timko, Mulligan and Mike Ricciardi each delivered 2 free throws to preserve the win.
DeSimone led the Bison with 19 points, 16 in the second half. Ricciardi scored 13, Timko 11 and Mulligan 10.
Buffalo Grove, which made only 10 of 42 from the field in the first three quarters for 23 prcent, made 5 of 7 from the field in the fourth quarter for 71 percent.
"We played well when it didn't count," said PR coach Corky Card. "They played well when it counted. They stepped up at crunch time while we got timid."
The Wolves came out with great intensity especially at the defensive end.
PR held Buffalo Grove without a field goal until Nick Prus made a layup with 1:15 left in the first quarter which cut PR's lead to 9-3. A pair of baskets by Mike Ungari upped the Wolves lead to 10, 13-3.
PR's biggest lead was 14, 21-7, after a 3-pointer by Bryan Bradshaw with 4:18 left before intermission.
McGinn led the Wolves with 13.
"We played a very good first half and really stuck it to them defensively," said Card. "We played with great effort."
-- Dave Hess
Girls basketball
Rolling Meadows 36, Larkin 29: Tuesday night's matchup against Larkin was like a new beginning for the Rolling Meadows girls basketball team.
After opening the season 2-0, the Mustangs had dropped eight straight before putting the pieces back together to defeat the Royals 36-29 in a nonconference meeting in Elgin.
Larkin jumped on top early taking a 6-0 lead in the first two minutes of play, but the starting five were soon interrupted by foul trouble for Alyssa Burns (4 points) and Laura Kay (4 points, 5 rebounds), which would later become the Royals' downfall.
That, combined with an inability to finish shots as the game progressed enabled Rolling Meadows to pull ahead and stay on top for the win.
"We had to adjust to foul trouble early and I think we did a good job with that, but it is a challenge for me to get us there," said Larkin coach Amy Silverman.
Trailing 6-1, the Mustangs found bench help in guard Alexa Bennett (11 points), who disrupted the Larkin flow with 8 straight points, including two from long distance to put Meadows on top 8-7 late in the first quarter.
Larkin's best opportunity to battle back against a very consistent Meadows offense came in the beginning of the third quarter when the Royal defense forced 5 straight turnovers.
Despite trailing 23-18 at the half, Larkin (1-9) managed to tie things up at 25-25 behind a 7-2 run while a stern defensive effort held the Mustangs to just 4 points.
"We were never out of it," said Silverman. Offensively, we looked great in the first quarter. After that, we just could not finish.
"The shots were there, but you don't win games if the ball doesn't go through the basket."
For the Mustangs (3-8), the shots were there as well.
In addition to Bennett's tally, which led all scorers, Jenna Milas added 9 points while Sara Shumaker contributed with 8 points.
The Mustangs also cut Larkin's chances in half on the boards pulling down 15 second-half rebounds. Shumaker led the way with 9, and Shannon McGuire recorded 6 rebounds of her own.
"We boxed out well as a team," said Rolling Meadows coach Patrick O'Connell. "With our rebounding efforts, we gave ourselves a chance to compete. Shumaker did a great job on the boards as did Shannon.
"It was nice to get a win."
And it was a team win as the Mustangs got 17 points from their bench.
"Quinn (Ryan) and Paulina (Gurbisz) played more minutes in this game than they ever had, and both contributed a great deal to this win," O'Connell said.
With 6 points and 9 rebounds (5 rebounds in the third quarter), Lindsey Casebeer led the way for Larkin. Sophie Sterricker (5 points, 9 rebounds, 2 blocks), Leah Rybakowski (4 points) and Jessica Harris (4 points) contributed.
-- Jen LaPorte
Elgin Academy 49, Westminster Christian 21: Elgin Academy (6-10) defeated Westminster Christian in a nonconference game. Lauren Stiemle led the way for the Hilltoppers scoring a game-high 20 points. Alyssa Pena added 7 points.
Beth Kautz, Sarah Rodgers, Andrea Walsh, Katie Moeller, and Emily Bickford each scored 4 points for Westminster Christian.
Harlem 51, Hampshire 43: Hampshire (6-5) fell to the host team in the third place game at the Harlem Christmas Tournament. Chrissy Heine scored 13 points to lead the Whip-Purs. Cassie Dumoulin and Mallory Koster each had 11 points.
Boys basketball
Hampshire 61, Harvard 52: Hampshire (3-5, 1-1) defeated Harvard in Big Northern East play behind 26 points from T. J. Burzak. Justin Bieber added 13 points for the Whip-Purs.
Huntley 54, Marengo 38: Tom Giordano had 17 points to lead Huntley (6-3) to a nonconference victory over Marengo. Jordan Neukirch also had 14 points for the Red Raiders.
Women's basketball
University of St. Francis 71, Judson 65: Finishing the game on a 10-2 run, the University of St. Francis (8-5) stole this nonconference contest from Judson (3-8).
Marissa Marshall (16 points) and Theresa Larson (10 points) led the Eagle offense. Ashley Cheairs recorded a career-high 10 rebounds for Judson.