Prospect has a blast
At halftime, Prospect’s boys basketball players helped unveil the wooden plaque on the Jean Walker Fieldhouse wall honoring the Knights’ third-place finish in the 2011 Class 4A baseball state finals.
Then the Knights went out and hit a home run to start the second half against Elk Grove.
Prospect outscored the Grenadiers 16-1 over the first six minutes en route to a 73-42 triumph in the Mid-Suburban East opener.
Senior guard Mike LaTulip collected a season-high of 21 points and 6 assists and helped ignite the Knights’ 23-10 first-quarter edge with 3 of his four 3-pointers.
“It was just about being patient on offense and defense and letting things come to us,” said LaTulip of the Knights’ fast start. “It comes from practice. It’s great to see all that work come to fruition.”
The Knights led by as much as 21-7 late in the first quarter.
But Elk Grove went on a 13-2 run and closed to within 23-20 with 2:28 left in the half when junior guard Kishan Patel hit a 17-footer.
Prospect was able to regain the momentum by closing the final two minutes with an 8-0 run.
Senior guard Brad Reibel (2 assists) started the streak by scoring on backdoor layup.
Mike Houghton followed with a 3-point play and Jack Landwehr (9 points) tossed home a 3-pointer with 10 seconds left.
“It was really important to finish like that to get momentum for the second half,” said Knights coach John Camardella. “Mike (LaTulip) played a real good point guard for us. His assists were real important because they came at big times.”
Senior Kevin Somogyi scored 13 points and Prospect got a big effort from Houghton, who finished with season-highs of 7 points and 10 rebounds.
“And we needed Mike to do that because we had some foul trouble,” Camardella said. “The opportunity presented itself for Mike and he made the most of it.”
Landwehr added 6 rebounds for Prospect (2-2, 1-0), which turned the ball over 12 times.
“That’s fine for the tempo we play,” Camardella added. “The biggest thing I felt was that we had guys in foul trouble early and we were playing with different lineups. But we got through it. We had a stretch where didn’t score for seven minutes (second quarter), but in the other three quarters we were on pace to where we want to be.”
Elk Grove coach Anthony Furman stressed the eight minutes where his club found its stride during the 13-2 run.
“For that eight minutes, we showed we can play with a good team like Prospect and that’s what we are going to build on,” Furman said. “The rest of the game we were on our heels. If you are going to beat a team that won the conference four straight times, you’ve got to play from tipoff to the buzzer.”
Zachary Solorio and Patel each scored 10 points for the Grens (1-4, 0-1) while Devin Neill and Anthony Jimenez added 5 apiece.
“I thought Zachary had a nice game,” Furman said. “He was able to compete from the get-go. Prospect really pushed us on the boards and they got some good looks on the perimeter. We’ve got to work on our strengths and skills and build from there.”