It's fun at the U.C., but Prospect falls short

It was a lighter atmosphere than usual at the United Center on Saturday afternoon when Prospect took on Glenbrook South in each teams' final game before the state tournament begins.

It was also a lighter atmosphere than most every high school game. Both coaches rotated their entire roster evenly into the game. The result was a whole bunch of players who normally don't get much playing time scoring in an NBA arena.

To give a sense of the environment, during a Titans free throw, Prospect coach John Camardella called senior Jordan DePalma to the other end of the floor to tell him something.

Instead of giving DePalma a play or defensive instruction to pass along, Camardella said, "I just wanted you to see how long the court was," before sending DePalma back into action.

"I thought it was really funny he said something like that," DePalma said. "I didn't see it coming."

DePalma said his experience at the United Center "felt great."

"I'm happy I had a chance to do it," DePalma said. "I thank Coach for it. And I thought we all had a great time playing here."

The game was pretty exciting, too. Glenbrook North's Trent Monckton tipped in teammate Jack Ryan's miss with 1.1 seconds left to give the Titans (15-11) a 56-54 win over the Knights (18-7).

"Normally we run a different play for a last-second shot, but this time we ran a new one and it was kind of jumbled," Monckton said. "Jack Ryan took his shot and I knew I had to crash the boards. If it didn't go in I had to be there, and it just worked out my way."

Camardella said the game was purposely scheduled at this point in the season to serve as a reward to his players for the hard work they put in since early November.

"I'm just so happy for these guys to have this experience going into the state tournament," Camardella said. "Being able to embrace it and just enjoy being at the United Center. I'm proud of how all of them (Prospect's players) came out, and the effort they displayed."

The Knights' third group of players, featuring DePalma, Jake Suckow, Chris Burns, Matt Huene and Eddie Gerdes, were responsible for some impressive scoring spurts. Those five players, who don't get to play very much normally, accounted for a combined 20 points.

"It was really just being here," Suckow said when asked to define what was behind all the points. "There weren't that many jitters in the beginning. It was fun."

Monckton said he had the opportunity to play at the United Center as part of his feeder program when he was in sixth grade. This time around though, he understood it was a little bigger deal.

"It was amazing," Monckton said. "Doing it my senior year is just 10 times better. I can't even describe it. Just walking out on the court and seeing how big it is from the court is unbelievable."