Knights finish Bears

Prospect picked a perfect time to put together a near-perfect 10 minutes of offense in Tuesday night's nonconference boys basketball game at Lake Zurich.

The Knights turned a tie game into their game as they scored 34 points in the final 10 minutes of a 69-56 victory.

"Today was the best we've jelled in a long time, probably since the Proviso East game (78-46 win Nov. 28)," said Prospect senior guard Jason Leblebijian, who scored a career-high 27 points on 11-for-14 shooting from the field and 4-for-5 on 3-pointers. "Before we were making dumb passes and today we made smart passes that benefitted the team."

The other double-figure beneficiaries for the Knights (7-1) were junior guard Joe LaTulip (16 points), Kevin Reed (12 points) and Jack Redding (10 points). They offset a 29-point night by Brandon Kunz of Lake Zurich (3-4).

LaTulip, Reed and Redding each had 3 assists, reserve guard Thomas Kelly had 4 assists and Leblebijian had 2 assists.

"That's something we've been preaching since the St. Charles East tournament ended and that's sharing the ball," said Prospect coach John Camardella after his team hit 10 of its last 11 shots to finish at 52 percent (25-for-48).

"It was definitely the best we've played this year," Reed said of the stretch run where the Knights committed only 2 of their 12 turnovers. "The last couple of games I think we haven't really been playing as a team.

"I'm pretty sure we just got back on track. Playing together, five guys together."

Reed also responded to a third-quarter chat on the bench with Camardella.

He came back in and hit a tiebreaking 3 and scored 10 points in a span of 3:24 to put the Knights up 50-41.

"I've been in a slump for awhile," Reed said. "I got in and said, 'I'm really sick of this.'

"I was being assertive. I drove and they didn't collapse so I took it."

Kunz shot 11-for-17 from the field and had 10 rebounds but Leblebijian, with help from LaTulip, Kelly and Bobby Reibel, limited high-scoring guard Connor Mooney to 10 points on 3-for-14 shooting.

"I was disappointed with the way we played," said Lake Zurich coach John Zarr, "but on the other hand I was impressed with Prospect and what they did offensively."