Prus propels Buffalo Grove over Elk Grove
Nick Prus came up with a big effort as Buffalo Grove edged visting Elk Grove 65-59 in Mid-Suburban East boys basketball Saturday night.
Prus connected on 8 of 13 shots and hit 7 of 10 free throws en route to scoring 25 points for the Bison (12-7, 4-2).
“Prus took over for us tonight,” said Bison coach Ryan O’Connor of the 6-foot-4 senior. “He has the skills to do it. He did a real good job tonight. He took a charge near the end of the game that helped us keep the lead.”
The Bison led from the start until John Lorenz gave the Grenadiers (4-14, 1-5) a 48-47 lead with 5:11 left in the game.
A free throw from Devin Neill (10 points) gave the Grens their last lead at 57-56 with 2:34 remaining.
The Bison took the lead for good at 58-57 with 1:13 left. Richie Zirngibl scored the go-ahead basket on a putback following a missed shot by Prus — Zirngibl’s 11th point and 10th rebound of the game.
Prus scored 16 of his points in the second half and 9 in the fourth quarter.
“I was able to fill the role tonight and I stepped it up,” Prus said. “Any good basketball player wants to step up and help his team get the victory.”
Elk Grove was charged with back-to-back offensive fouls — which were the fifth for Lorenz (15 points, 5 rebounds) and Kevin Morelos.
The Bison hit 5 of 6 free throws down the stretch, and converted 21 of 35 in the contest.
“We were poor from the line,” O’Connor said. “But we hit the ones that we needed to when it counted.”
“We’re working better as a team than we were,” Prus said. “We’ve become more comfortable as the season has gone on.”
Jeff Zabrin added 12 points and 2 steals, and center Sam Wacker had 12 points and 6 rebounds to go with 3 blocked shots for the Bison.
Maine West 67, Collins 50: Kevin Garcia scored a career-high 23 points and hit three 3-pointers for Maine West (11-7) in the nonconference home win. Conor Hart (17 points, Paul Solka (10 points) and Pat Livingston (8 points) led the rally from a 17-13 first-quarter deficit.
Proviso East 68, Leyden 24: Paris Lee scored 16 points as host Proviso East (14-3, 5-1) bounced back from Friday’s West Suburban Gold loss to Downers Grove South. Alex Herrera had 6 points for Leyden (5-11, 2-4), which trailed 35-9 at halftime and shot just 19.4 percent (7-for-36) from the field.