Prospect's second-half clamp-down beats Elk Grove

Something really changed at halftime for Prospect.

The Knights clamped down on the defensive end against host Elk Grove in the second half of Saturday's Mid-Suburban League East Division boys basketball battle to come away with a 53-48 win.

Prospect allowed the Grenadiers to score just 12 second-half points, and until 2:17 remained in the game, Elk Grove had managed just 5 points after the half.

"In the second half, the major adjustment was to get up and not allow the ball into the middle," said Knights coach John Camardella.

The Grens were getting points from everyone on the floor in the first half, while the Knights (14-3, 6-0) got 26 of their 30 first-half points from the combination of sophomore guard Mike LaTulip and senior forward Jack Redding (14 points, 4 rebounds).

"We started to play on our heels a little bit in the first half," said LaTulip, who finished with 21 points. "Halftime came around and we knew we had to dictate on the defensive end and execute on the offensive end."

A late flurry by the Grens (5-13, 2-4) cut the Knights' lead to 3. At that point, the Grens came up with a steal but missed an ensuing layup with the ball winding up out of bounds - last touched by Elk Grove.

The inbounds pass found Prospect senior Nsenzi Salasini, who was fouled an sank 2 free throws to ice the game.

"On the inbounds play they let me have the ball, and I figured if I touched the ball they were going to hack me," Salasini said. "Prior to even getting the ball I was like 'I'm going to get these two free throws.' So I started thinking about the free throws about a minute before they happened."

Salasini finished the game with 7 points - all in the fourth quarter - and 8 rebounds.

"It's going to be tough to beat Prospect scoring 12 in a half," said Grens coach Anthony Furmand. "In that second half they really came out and pressured the ball more and were more physical defensively. It took us awhile to adjust to that. We didn't respond quick enough to that."

Grens senior forward Donny Duschinsky finished with 15 points, 12 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals. Teammate Keven Zelaya had 11 points and Scott Siwicki added 8.