Knights not satisfied, but beat Hersey

Winning is no guarantee of satisfaction for Prospect this season.

So even though the Knights never trailed Friday night they weren't ecstatic about a 66-58 victory as they opened defense of their share of the Mid-Suburban East boys basketball title at Hersey's Ken Carter Gymnasium.

"One thing I really like about our team is we're not easily satisfied," said senior Kevin Reed after Prospect committed 29 turnovers and shot 16-for-27 on free throws. "Even though we won and we're happy we got the win, we're not as satisfied as we were last year and we want more."

Prospect (4-1) did get a lot out of the 6-foot-7 Reed in spite of some first-half foul trouble. Reed had a team-high 20 points on 7-for-9 shooting from the field, 8 assists, 7 rebounds and 6 blocked shots.

And Reed had plenty of help on the boards with juniors Jack Redding (8 points, 9 rebounds) and Nsenzi Salasini (10 points, 6 rebounds). Guards Jason Leblebijian (14 points) and Joe LaTulip (9 points) had six apiece and sixth-man Austin Sobey had four.

"The stat we really gauge ourselves on is the rebounding edge," Prospect coach John Camardella said of the 38-25 advantage.

A pair of rebound baskets by Reed gave Prospect its biggest lead at 28-11 with 2:18 left in the first half. But it was all part of a familiar pattern that happened in the St. Charles East tournament.

"I think we came out expecting to have the game handed to us and we didn't try to take it," Reed said. "(Hersey) came out hard, too.

"This is the third game we started up by a lot of points and let the other team come back. We just have a thing where we come out really hard and stop."

Hersey (2-3) finally got started after shooting just 5-for-26 from the field with 16 of its 22 turnovers in the first half.

Junior Kyle Miklasz hit a pair of 3s as the Huskies made its first 4 shots behind the arc in the second half. A layup and a pullup jumper by Miklasz, who scored 18 of his 24 points in the second half, cut the deficit to 50-44 with 5:18 left.

"You could see them feeling a little more comfortable and a lot more confident," said Hersey coach Steve Messer.

But three chances to get closer were turned away on a steal by Redding, a charge drawn by Sobey and a block by Reed.

Prospect went on a 6-point run and Hersey never got closer than the final score in the last 1:36.

"We're happy with the win," Camardella said. "A win on the road in the East - I don't want to belittle that."

It's just not enough to fully satisfy the Knights.