Prospect High boys basketball seeks more success

The prospect of more success in the Prospect boys basketball program looks encouraging.

The Knights will have to replace two-time Daily Herald All-Area pick Kevin Reed and all-area guard and Mid-Suburban East player of the year Jason Leblebijian from a 21-8 season that ended Tuesday with a 55-50 Class 4A Niles North sectional semifinal loss to Glenbrook North.

"It's never easy to fill 'Leb's' or Reed's shoes," said Prospect junior point guard Joe LaTulip. "I figure I'll take more of a leadership role and it could be anyone on any given night."

LaTulip, who now is Prospect's career leader in free-throw percentage at 91, will be coming back after an all-area season. LaTulip and 6-foot-2 junior Jack Redding were playing some of their best basketball the last half of the season.

Junior forward Nsenzi Salasini will also be back after a full year as a starter. Junior forward Kevin Matkovic was getting more time late in the season and scored 4 points in significant minutes of the sectional semifinal.

And there are plenty of players with size and skill also ready to step in and keep the success and increased interest rolling.

"I hope this now set the bar for Prospect," said second-year coach John Camardella. "The credit does go to the players from this team and I think back to the (Alex) Toths and (Jeff) Heidens (from the 2008 MSL East co-champs).

"The last two years we had kids who really understood our philosophies and pushed to set higher goals for themselves. I feel very blessed to be part of this run with these 15 guys this year."

A run where the Knights won 20 games for the first time in 24 years, a Mid-Suburban League title for the first time in 23 years and a regional title for the first time in seven years.

"Overall there's no better way for me to go out," Leblebijian said. "Winning a regional championship this year, an MSL championship, I couldn't ask for anything more."

The 6-7 Reed, who leaves as the school's career leader in rebounding (550) and 2-point field-goal percentage (62), expects more big things from the Knights.

"Coach Camardella is a really good coach and he'll have a lot of good teams to coach," Reed said. "There's a lot of upcoming talent and I think they could be good for a long time."

Donning a turnaround: A last-second loss to Hersey on Feb. 14 was the third straight for a Notre Dame team that had only lost four times in its first 20 games.

Losing its regular-season finale in overtime to Benet didn't bode well as the Dons went into the tournament with four losses in five games.

But they were able to get back to where they were most of the season and now are playing in a sectional final for the first time since 2002 against Glenbrook North at 7:30 p.m. today at Niles North.

"We got away from a little bit of what we do," said second-year Notre Dame coach Tom Les. "This is a team that has to play hard, play good defense and dive on the floor and get loose balls. That's what we are and who we are.

"Late in the season we got a little enamored with our record and forgot how we need to play."

But the late-season slide not only jarred some memories but also the reality of a first-round exit last year.

"I think losing those games probably made us a better team," said senior Dallas Moreland.

"Coach has always said with adversity it's how you respond," said senior guard and scoring leader Mike DiGregorio. "He said before the playoffs, 'When you're in a slump what are you going to do, whine and cry for yourself?'

"We're confident guys and we've worked harder than anybody. We know all the work is going to pay off."

DiGregorio had struggled a bit with his shot late in the season but hit 5 of his last 6 in Wednesday's semifinal win over Glenbrook South.

"Before the regional championship coach said, 'Whether you take 10 shots and make 9 of 10 or take 10 and hit zero of 10, you're the leader of this team,'" DiGregorio said. "'You have to play defense - and you can still be the best player on the court without hitting shots.'"

Providing a boost: Back surgery in late November has turned Glenbrook North 6-7 senior Tyler Ponticelli into a role player off the bench in the postseason.

Ponticelli, who averaged 15 points a game last year and is headed to Brown, was expected to be a big force for the Spartans but missed the entire regular season.

"He was a player who just put in 100 percent (all the time)," said 6-6 junior teammate and scoring leader Alex Dragicevich. "He's a kid who played his hardest and to see him go down like that at the beginning was tough.

"Everybody stepped up. It wasn't so much inspiring but more of a challenge. Now that's he's back I couldn't be happier."

Bounce passes: When Prospect was eliminated in Tuesday's sectional semifinal it was the first time since 1968 the MSL didn't have a team reach a sectional final. That was also the last year no MSL team won a regional - The East Suburban Catholic Conference still has three teams alive with Notre Dame and Marian Catholic in 4A and St. Joseph in 3A - Naperville North head coach Mark Lindo announced his retirement Thursday. Lindo's 1994 team lost to Conant in the AA supersectional at Northern Illinois - After winning an epic four-overtime regional final over Belleville West, Belleville East needed only four extra minutes to beat Edwardsville in the sectional semifinals.