LaTulip (38 points), Reibel rally Prospect past Hersey

Some turnovers in basketball are more crucial than others.

Saturday night at Prospect, Hersey found out the hard way in a crucial Mid-Suburban East boys basketball game.

Leading most of the night, including by 10 points with 3:53 remaining, the visiting Huskies saw Prospect rally to win 67-65 on Brad Reibel's basket at the buzzer in Jean Walker Field House.

Prospect (10-7, 4-2) stayed two games behind Rolling Meadows in the East race as senior guard Mike LaTulip scored a career-high 38 points and hit eight 3-pointers.

LaTulip is now 53 points away from breaking the school's career scoring record of 1,282 points by Craig Anderson.

in Mid-Suburban East play.

"You cannot make turnovers against a good shooting team and expect to win," said Hersey coach Steve Messer. "We made some critical turnovers in the fourth quarter."

The Huskies (7-10, 3-3) turned the ball over three times in the last 2:07.

While Hersey played well for 3½ quarters, the Knights (10-7, 4-2) were sluggish except for LaTulip. He is now 53 points away from breaking the school's career scoring record of 1,282 points by Craig Anderson.

"Mike hit the 38 and carried us most of the game," said Prospect coach John Camardella. "When he got triple-teamed at the end of the game he was able to kick it off to Brad, who made the shot."

Reibel, who scored 10 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter, took the pass from LaTulip in the left corner and popped in a 15-footer.

"When they double-teamed Mike," said Reibel, "that opened me up. Most defenses gear for him in the fourth quarter, and today that opened me up.

"We were sluggish for the first three quarters, but sometimes that's how we play. Thank goodness we woke up."

Everything seemed to go Hersey's way early, thanks to good inside scoring and strong rebounding.

Sean Reszotko (16 points, 7 rebounds), Kevin Kozil (11 points) and Justin Jobski (10 points) were keeping the Huskies in the lead despite several Prospect runs.

Leading 58-50 with 2:38 left, things started to awry for Hersey.

Prospect reserve Andrew Novak came of the bench to hit a 3. Then Reibel scored off a turnover to cut the lead to 58-55 with 2:07 left.

Alex Thierjung hit 2 free throws following a turnover on an inbound pass to cut Hersey's lead to 64-63.

Kozil hit 1 of 2 free throws for Hersey to make it 65-63. LaTulip drove through the lane uncontested to tie the game at 65 with 16 seconds left.

A pass out of bounds by Hersey with 9.7 seconds left set up the LaTulip-to-Reibel finish.

"The kids stuck with it," said Camardella. "We didn't play well tonight, but Brad's timing in the fourth quarter was great."