Prospect’s LaTulip, Buffalo Grove’s Potnick put on show
Prospect’s Mike LaTulip and Buffalo Grove’s Luke Potnick had the basketball version of home run derby Friday in Mount Prospect.
In this version, a triple counts for a home run and the duo tied with seven 3-pointers each. LaTulip won the tiebreaker however, scoring a career-high 44 points to Potnick’s career-best 39 and leading the Knights to an 80-67 Mid-Suburban East victory at Jean Walker Field House.
“It was a great duel, an old classic duel,” said LaTulip, who was 7-of-11 outside the arc. “I love shooting here and I love playing here. I was just taking what the defense gave me and working off the screens my teammates set for me.”
LaTulip had a hand in all of Prospect’s 21 first-quarter points. The senior nailed three triples, had 3 assists and made two passes into the paint that led to four Knight free throws. LaTulip’s play helped the Knights (14-7, 6-3) score the first 8 points of the game as they opened a 15-1 lead late in the first quarter.
“I thought Mike played the best game I have seen here in nine years,” Prospect coach John Camardella said. “It may have been the second-best effort I have seen by Potnick tonight.”
BG (10-14, 3-6) rallied behind the hot shooting of Potnick, who also was 7-of-11 from outside the arc. The junior scored the Bison’s next 15 points to cut the lead to 23-16 early in the second quarter.
“Mike and I know each other real well,” Potnick said. “And we definitely battled against each other tonight. I was doing what I could to help my team try to win.”
BG’s Andrew Apel scored the last 7 points of the first half as Bison closed to 32-31 at the break. BG would pull to within one a final time at 40-39 with 3:52 to play in the third on a basket by Sam Wacker.
Prospect, which blew a 16-point halftime lead last week to Elk Grove and lost, then made sure that history did not repeat itself Friday. The Knights went on a 9-2 run and BG would never get closer than three thanks to some great free throw shooting by Prospect in the fourth quarter.
The Knights were 18-of-21 in the final eight minutes with LaTulip hitting 10-of-12.
“This is something that we have dealt with all year,” Camardella said. “We are a team that relies on scoring. We have been working all year on firming up this defense and we did well in stretches.”
“We felt that we were on the brink of getting out of that hole,” BG coach Ryan O’Connor said. “But every time we did they came down and made big shots.”