Leblebijian sparks big win for Prospect

Prospect's boys basketball team was looking to make a statement Tuesday night.

The Knights (15-6) did so by avenging a regional final loss last season with a 70-50 nonconference victory at Evanston.

"To beat a team not in our conference that's an established team and beat them like that," said Prospect guard Jason Leblebijian, "gives us all the confidence in the world."

Leblebijian continued his confident shooting with 25 points and five 3-pointers and he held Evanston (12-11) standout Nik Garcia to 10 points until he hit an NBA-range 3 in the final seconds.

"He was terrific," Prospect coach John Camardella said of Leblebijian.

"The main thing was keeping the ball out of his hands," Leblebijian said. "After that I tried to contest him. I'd rather have him taking fadeaway jumpers than layups getting past me - and it worked."

Kevin Reed (12 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 blocks), Joe LaTulip (8 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists), Nsenzi Salasini (8 points, 5 rebounds), Jack Redding (7 points, 8 rebounds) and Kevin Matkovic (5 points) pushed the Knights to their sixth win in seven games. They committed only 1 of their 11 turnovers in the first half.

"They pressured us the whole time," Camardella said. "It was intense the whole time. I'm really proud of them."

Loyola 66, BG 54: Mike Cornely scored 13 points and James Hurley added 12 for Buffalo Grove (14-9) in the nonconference loss in Wilmette.

Matt Sullivan led Loyola with 24 points.

Maine East 76, Wheeling 52: Michael Zimmer scored 13 points and James Kurtz added 12 for Wheeling (7-15) in the nonconference loss in Park Ridge.

Maine East (18-5) bounced back from Saturday's 64-51 loss at Hoffman Estates as Danhi Wilson (15 points), Nuse Khan (14) and Charles McKinney (13) led its 13th win in 15 games.