Maturing Prospect, Conant meet to decide MSL championship
Youth will be served when Prospect travels to Conant for Wednesday's 7:30 p.m. Mid-Suburban League boys basketball championship game.
With lineups loaded with juniors and sophomores, both teams expected this season to be a year of growing up. But thanks to strong conference play, next year came now for both Conant and Prospect.
Conant (18-6, 9-1) won the West title for the first time since 2009, when it shared divisional bragging rights with Schaumburg. The Cougars are making their first appearance in the MSL title game since 2008.
"We have been second a lot," Conant coach Tom McCormack said. "We have been consistently second, but the league has been up. We are hoping that this is the beginning of a late-season run."
Conant starts just one senior, Brandon Vinson at guard. The Cougars would have had two seniors in the lineup with Kyle Bradley, but Bradley suffered an a torn Achilles' tendon early, which ended his season.
That forced the young Cougars to grow up even faster than McCormack had planned.
"With our young guys, it is a way to grow up," McCormack said. "Being in a pressure-packed situation. But it wasn't like his team didn't have some experience in that youth.
Junior guard Jimmy Sotos, who is averaging 16 points and 4 assists, was a starter last season and also played as a freshman. Sophomores Ryan Davis and Ben Schols, who both saw tremendous time last year as freshmen. The Cougars also added Michael Downing, who is a junior and transferred from St. Joseph after seeing some varsity time for the Chargers last season.
"Playing in a championship game, whether you win or lose, you gain out of it," McCormack said "But obviously, winning is a much more desirable outcome."
Conant has also shown some extra depth in recent weeks with CJ DeShazer, Chima Oduocha, Danny Ranallo, Palmer Graham and Nikola Todorov giving the Cougars spark in their play.
Conant will seek a bit of revenge against a Prospect team the beat the Cougars 44-43 in the season opener for both teams at Thanksgiving.
That victory got Prospect (14-10, 8-2) off to a great start en route to the Knights' seventh conference title in the last nine years. Prospect, which tied Elk Grove for the conference title but edged out the Grenadiers on a tiebreaker, is making its sixth trip to the MSL title game under coach John Camardella.
"Both teams are a little different from our game three months ago," Camardella said. "But we feel real good where we are at. We are ready to have the most fun we can."
It has been a very fun year for Prospect, which has not won the MSL title since 2011 and lost by 3 in both 2013 and 2014.
"The kids have been giving us great production," Camardella said. "And it isn't just our starters. We have had great depth all year and it has been different guys who have stepped up when we needed it."
Prospect has leaned on juniors Frankie Mack, who is scoring 15.7 points per game, and Matt Szuba, who is averaging 8.1 points, 9.1 rebounds and 2.5 assists. Sophomore David Swedura along with juniors Michael Ritchie, Antonio Gardner and Grant Whitebloom have given the Knights options while seniors Liam Benson, Alec Busiel and Luke Wrede have provided leadership.
"This is a very selfless team," Camardella said. "We have been able to stay competitive all year because of that."