Prospect doesn't fold with streak at stake

Extending a 21-game Mid-Suburban East boys basketball winning streak didn't appear to be in the cards Saturday night for Prospect.

First the Knights were hit with the injury to all-area guard Joe LaTulip. Then they were hit with a 13-point deficit by Hersey after a little more than four minutes.

The deficit was still 7 points with less than six minutes left. But the defending MSL champions refused to fold and pulled out a 67-64 victory at Jean Walker Field House.

"This team is never going to give up and will play the whole 32 minutes," said Prospect senior forward Sam Pope, who tripled his scoring average with a career-high 13 on 5-for-7 shooting. "Coach (John Camardella) told us no one is going to hand us this.

"Everyone is gunning for us and everyone wants to knock off Prospect."

But no one in the East was able to do it for the 22nd straight time as the Knights (13-3, 5-0) kept a one-game lead on Buffalo Grove. Sophomore Mike LaTulip also scored a career-high 21 points and hit four 3-pointers before fouling out with 1:30 to play.

Senior Jack Redding wasn't down about 1-for-11 shooting the first three quarters. He scored 10 of his 15 points and had 5 of his 12 rebounds the last eight minutes.

"We had to crawl back into this one," said Redding, who went 11-for-15 on free throws as the Knights finished 29-for-41 to Hersey's 6-for-15, "and it had to start on the defensive end."

Senior Nsenzi Salasini (11 points, 9 rebounds) made the decisive play there when he intercepted a downcourt Hersey (9-7, 3-2) transition pass in the final seconds to preserve the final margin. Senior Eddie Gerdes added 5 points in his first start.

"Eddie and Pope stepped up and played awesome," Redding said.

"The line I gave them is no one has to try to replace Joe," Camardella said. "We're asking them to be themselves and continue executing within the system. Both Grant (DePalma) and Eddie came in and did great and so did Sam."

Hersey tore out to a 16-3 lead behind Connor Miklasz (22 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 5-for-9 on 3s), Kyle Miklasz (14 points) and sophomore Justin Jobski (11 points, 12 rebounds). Consecutive 3s by the Miklasz brothers made it 60-53 with 5:31 left.

"There were examples of toughness in the second half where we really had a chance to shine and didn't," said Hersey coach Steve Messer. "They got to the rim too many times."

A technical foul led to 4 free throws as the Knights got within 60-59 at 4:31. Pope's floating 10-footer in the lane put them up 63-61 at 2:22 and Redding's 2 free throws made it 65-63 with a minute left.

"To be able to come through and get the win is unbelievable," Pope said.

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