Prospect puts it all together against Hersey
Hersey and Prospect entered Friday night's boys basketball games with totally different starts to their season, as the Huskies hosted the Mid-Suburban League East bout.
After dealing with three straight losses that were all by less than 4 points, Prospect (2-3, 1-0) stunned Hersey and the Huskies' faithful with a 53-37 lopsided victory. The Knights contested shots on the defensive end, which they in turn forced a transition game.
The senior Prospect Kyle duo, forward Kyle Formanski and guard Kyle Beyak, led the way for the Knights. Beyak registered 15 points (9-for-10 from the free-throw line), 3 steals and 3 assists, while Formanski tallied 10 points, 3 rebounds and a steal. The two Kyles had the Knights' student section - 'The Underground - to thank.
"We're in debt to The Underground," Beyak said. "We knew coming in that the atmosphere was going to be like this because of the many posts on Twitter. It gave us a boost. Honestly, we've been working to make our defense turn into offense."
"We faced some adversity against (Saint) Viator (where they faltered 43-40 in OT)," Formanski said. "We looked at film and had more of a focus mentality (Friday)."
Prospect didn't waste any time to get its offense going. As Beyak said, the Knights' defense forced a 16-4 start. In the first half alone, Prospect marched on runs of 7-0, 6-0 and 8-0. The Knights also outrebounded the Huskies 31-20.
The defensive performance of the Knights was stellar in the fact that they held Hersey to under 10 points until 2:54 was left in the first half.
On the offensive end, Prospect really was adamant on forcing the issue in the paint. Whether it be drawing a foul on the drive, or penetrating the lane to collapse the defense and kick out for the outside jump shot, the Knights were clicking on all phases of the game.
Prospect was comfortable going into the locker room leading 28-17 at halftime.
"They really responded in practice," said Prospect coach John Camardella. "We had three very close losses, but the seniors bought into the process putting in good individual efforts. (The senior's performance set) a great team example. (Friday) was great."
The Knights were very in sync on the offensive end. Prospect shot 90 percent from the free-throw line (18 of 20), and doubled the amount of assists that the Huskies logged (12-6).
The game started off rocky for the Huskies. Hersey had issues connecting on shots due to the stifling Prospect defense. This resulted in scoring droughts of seven and three minutes for the Huskies in the first half. Hersey scored 4 points in the first quarter and 5 points in the third.
As the minutes dwindled in the second half, the Huskies rushed to take ill-advised shots from 3-point land. Even though many of these shots from downtown were open looks, Hersey ultimately finished the game 3 of 17 behind the arc (17 percent).
Hersey (3-2, 0-1) was able to cut Prospect's lead down to single digits for the first time since the six-minute mark in the first quarter. However the Knights pieced together another 6-0 run and coasted through the remainder of the evening for the win.
Top performers for the Huskies were senior guard Max Heeren registering 10 points, while sophomore guard Joe Coffaro pitched in 7 points.
"We got a lot of contested looks and then impatient with our shots," said Hersey coach Steve Messer. "It's pretty clear our (3-point shooting) wasn't working. We've just got to play harder, work and get better."
Both teams are back into action Saturday. Hersey competes in an MSL crossover at Schaumburg, while Prospect does the same against visiting Fremd.
"It's the first week of December, but we can't skip steps for anyone," Camardella said. "We have some really mature kids. They're still learning to play from behind. (Friday) they learned how to play with the lead and how to extend the lead. It was very much of a team win."