Wheeling tournament roundup

So far, so good for Prospect.

The Knights wasted little time in setting the tone in their opening game Monday morning against Niles North in Wheeling's 32nd annual Wildcat Hardwood Classic.

Prospect (8-1) entered the second quarter with a 20-9 advantage, then extended a 12-point halftime lead to 22 points entering the final quarter before cruising to a commanding 70-44 victory.

Prospect has won its opening game at Wheeling the past two seasons before losing the next three.

The Knights are hoping to change that pattern this year, starting today when they face defending champion Naperville Central (7-3) at 3:45 p.m. Niles North (3-6) will face Carmel (5-7) today at 10:30 a.m.

"We've always won this game and from then on we'd lose out," said Prospect coach John Camardella. "It's haunting, we're hoping to make adjustments this year."

The Knights did not have to make too many adjustments on Monday as they jumped out to an 11-2 advantage in the opening three minutes.

Senior Jack Redding led the Knights with a team-high 16 points and 5 rebounds. Senior Joe LaTulip (12 points) and senior Nsenzi Salasini (11 points, 12 rebounds) aided the balanced attack.

"We knew with it being an early game we had to come out with our offense," said Redding. "Right away we always want to get a lead, then we can play our type of ball and not theirs."

Redding hit down low, giving the Knights a 17-point advantage midway through the second quarter, but Niles North hit three 3-pointers in the final minute of the half to narrow the deficit to 37-25.

Niles North shot a dismal 20 percent (8-for-39) in the opening half, but first-year coach and Rolling Meadows grad Glenn Olson was ecstatic to be down only 12 points.

"The ball didn't go through the hole very often for us early," added Olson, "I felt great about only being down 12 points."

But that feeling didn't last long as Prospect embarked on a 14-4 run to begin the third quarter for a commanding 51-29 lead.

Senior Marlon Senior paced the Vikings with a game-high 19 points with senior Duane Williams chipping in 8 points.

Now the Knights are hoping to break their streak of second-game slides.

"Just take it one game at a time, one play at a time," added Redding, "We definitely want to be playing for the championship on Saturday."

Naperville Central 75, Carmel 47: Naperville Central was a bit sluggish early against Carmel in its opening game at the 32nd annual Wheeling Wildcat Hardwood Classic.

But the defending champion Redhawks turned up the intensity on defense in the second quarter against the Corsairs and ran away with a 75-47 victory.

Naperville Central (7-3) stopped a two-game losing streak and advances to play Prospect (8-1) in the quarterfinals at 3:45 p.m. today, while Carmel (5-7) will hope to rebound today against Niles North (3-6) at 10:30 a.m.

Senior Matt Neufeld paced Naperville Central, scoring a game-high 19 points and helping offset the loss of starter David Niggins, who missed the game because of a concussion, and starter Paul Wirtz, who went out early with a sprained ankle.

Senior Nick Linne (10 points), senior Mark Bicek (10 points), and senior Bobby Czarnowski (12 points) added to a balanced Redhawks attack.

Naperville Central entered the second quarter leading 21-16, but Patrick Cox (12 points) hit 3-of-4 free throws to open the quarter, narrowing Carmel's deficit to 2 points.

The Redhawks then switched from its man-to-man defense to a matchup zone and Carmel had no answer.

Naperville Central used a 19-3 run to finish the half, limiting Carmel 1-of-9 field goals in taking a commanding 40-22 halftime advantage.

"That was one of the big keys," said Neufeld of the sticky match-up zone. "It pretty much stopped everything inside and forced them to shoot outside."

Connor Sexson scored 7 of his 9 points in the opening quarter to lead Carmel, with Douglas Meyer adding 5 of his 7 points in the first quarter, including a 3-pointer with 2:15 remaining to give the Corsairs a brief 15-12 lead.

But Carmel finished the game converting only 3-of-22 on 3s.

"First quarter they were playing a straight up man and we were doing a good job of moving the ball," added Sexson of the Corsairs attack. "But after they started switching it got harder to do that. They just shut us down and we couldn't hit from the outside."

Carmel used an 8-3 run to open the third quarter, narrowing the deficit to 13 points, but Naperville Central ended the quarter with an 11-0 run for a commanding 56-32 lead.

Now Naperville Central is bracing for an intriguing second round matchup with Prospect.

"We're two different teams," said Naperville Central coach Pete Kramer of today's game. "They want to get up and down a little bit more, we like to play half court. It should be fun."

Notre Dame 71, Lake Park 65 (ot): Well into the fourth quarter of Monday's Lake Park-Notre Dame opening-round contest at the Wildcat Hardwood Classic at Wheeling, it was pretty hard to distinguish which team was the pre-tournament top seed.

Lake Park, playing with energy and spirit, had the Dons on their heels, leading all the way, looking like a championship contender and often on cruise control against the rugged East Suburban Catholic Conference entry.

But foul problems for leading scorers Matt Drufke and Dominique Spencer and Notre Dame's ability to run 6-foot-5 player after 6-foot-5 player into and out of the game like so many interchangeable pieces eventually wore down the Lancers (4-6) in Notre Dame's 71-65 overtime victory. Lake Park will meet host Wheeling at 9 a.m. today.

For Lake Park coach Josh Virostko, the loss still had some solid positives. Most importantly, he's looking for his team to get past its tendency to play "not to lose" and stay aggressive throughout. After playing near flawless basketball early, the Lancers seemed to back off little by little as Notre Dame became more assertive.

"Good teams overcome that and we're trying to become a good team," he said.

Notre Dame had forged ahead on the solid play of Tim Hirsch and Quinton Chievous down the stretch. But no one scored in the final 1:25 after Lake Park tied it. Drufke, who had dominated in the first half, found the going tougher in the second half with four fouls and had only 10 free throws after intermission. He finished with 27 points.

"He's our leader. Matt's got to lead us," Virostko said of his best player. Foul trouble not withstanding, "We've got to figure out how to finish close games."

It wasn't always close. Lake Park led 41-27 when Hirsch and Chievous started a comeback. Chievous dominated in overtime against foul-plagued Lake Park, while guard Shawn Wallace, clamping down on Drufke, came alive on offense with 8 of his 16 points in the four-minute session, including a game-busting 3-pointer for the Dons (8-3).

Libertyville 65, Wheeling 52: Libertyville likes to play under control so it can get on top of its game.

The visiting Wildcats did just that Monday afternoon against the host team in the Wheeling Wildcat Hardwood Classic, regaining their composure in time to hold off their scratching, clawing namesakes 65-52 in the opening round. Now they'll meet the tourney's top-seed - Notre Dame - in round two today at 5:30 p.m.

"We kept our poise," said Wildcats coach Scott Bogumil after Wheeling got off to a hot start through a more than competitive first half.

Libertyville (6-3) took Wheeling's best shot, grabbed the lead with an 8-0 run in the second quarter and never relinquished it through a dominant second-half performance.

Switching to a half-court trapping defense disrupted Wheeling's offensive flow and enabled the visiting Wildcats to seize control of the tempo and the game.

"That was a big key," Bogumil said.

Fueling that were point guard Ryan Barth (13 points) controlling the floor game and sophomore forward Luke Mathewson (16) taking charge around the basket. They got help all over the floor from hustling Tyler Schweigert (10) and, off the bench, Hobie Herberger (8).

"He (Barth) makes a lot of good things happen," Bogumil said of his junior point guard.

Wheeling (2-7) ran ahead early thanks to the shooting of junior center Riley Harvey (9 points) and rallied late behind the torrid perimeter shooting of James Barrera (15). But after Meyer's layup off an inbounds play and Herberger's free throw late in the third quarter, Wheeling never got closer than 8 again - despite some hard work off the bench by bookend guards James Miles and Nick Boyd.

"We were worried about their half-court trap. They're so long," in height and reach, said interim coach Matt Mishler, subbing for Lou Wool, who was summoned away because of a death in his family.

Yet, Mishler felt his club made progress.

"Our guys have made huge strides," especially against the trap," Mishler said.

But once Mathewson and Co. took control of the boards against the shorter, host Wildcats in the second half, that spelled the end.

"We controlled the boards in the first half," Mishler said, but not thereafter.

The host Wildcats play Lake Park at 9 a.m. today.