Stevenson’s defense stifles Prospect
When Mike LaTulip hit an off-balance 23-footer just before the halftime buzzer it gave Prospect a 5-point lead in Wednesday night’s Stevenson Class 4A boys basketball regional semifinal.
It also gave Stevenson senior guard Michael Fleming a big jolt of motivation.
“That was a big-time 3 and it really frustrated me,” Fleming said. “I knew I should have gotten through that screen.”
Fleming and his teammates turned the next 13 minutes into utter offensive frustration for the ninth-seeded Knights as they managed just 7 points. Fleming and freshman Jalen Brunson each scored 14 points as No. 8 Stevenson (17-10) earned a suffocating 48-41 victory.
“Hands-down that was the most difficult offensive game we’ve had in years,” said Prospect coach John Camardella, whose team came in averaging 67.6 points a game. “Defensively we felt great. I told them if we held Stevenson to 48 that would be terrific.”
But it wasn’t good enough as Stevenson, which also beat Prospect 66-63 on Dec. 28, advanced to Friday’s 7:30 p.m. regional final against top-seed Warren (23-3), a 65-50 winner over Hersey.
Prospect (17-9) missed its first 11 shots after halftime and got its only third-quarter points on Derice Black’s jumper with 46 seconds left. Brunson and Fleming scored 5 points apiece and Colby Cashaw (12 points on 6-for-7 shooting) had four as Stevenson went from a 22-17 deficit to a 34-24 lead with 7:32 left.
“Two points in the third quarter is a red flag right there,” said LaTulip, who closed his career as Prospect’s all-time scoring leader with 21 points. “I’ve never been a part of that. But the flow of the game, that’s how it went. They stopped our fastbreak and regular sets.”
And Fleming came off the bench after missing the last two games to make LaTulip work for his points on 4-for-18 shooting and 3-for-10 on 3s. LaTulip was 10-for-12 at the free-throw line.
“(Fleming) was pretty darn good and hounding him pretty good,” Stevenson coach Pat Ambrose said after Prospect shot just 26.2 percent from the field (11-for-42) and committed 20 turnovers.
“We watched a lot of film this entire week and we played them before so we know a lot of their sets,” said Fleming, who fouled out with 58 seconds left. “I pretty much ignored the rest of the guys on offense and put my entire focus on him. It’s a challenge but I love challenges.”
Prospect made a couple to within 40-35 at 1:39 and 45-39 at 0:45 but Stevenson answered them to set up an even bigger one Friday.
“We’ll try to take down the mountain,” said Ambrose, whose team beat Warren in Lincolnshire 44-43 in December. “We have to believe we can do it and we do.”