Prospect stands tall at Elk Grove

Despite a massive height advantage Friday, Prospect was allowing host Elk Grove to hang around.

Until, that is, Prospect guard Mike LaTulip banked in a fadeaway 3-pointer as time expired in the first half.

LaTulip and the Knights rode the momentum of scoring the first 6 points of the second half to extend Prospect’s 34-24 halftime lead to a 40-24 edge.

LaTulip finished with a game-high 23 points as the Knights (11-6, 6-1) went on to a 65-41 victory to remain tied atop the Mid-Suburban East.

“I didn’t think it was going to go in,” said LaTulip, who finished 10-for-16 from the floor with 6 rebounds and 4 assists.

Elk Grove (4-16, 1-6) knew there wasn’t much it could have done defensively to stop LaTulip’s buzzer-beater, but the response in the second half was something else. Prospect outscored the Grenadiers 16-4 in the third quarter and built a 50-28 lead by the start of the fourth.

“I thought we defended well and they got a lucky bank shot 3-pointer,” Elk Grove coach Anthony Furman said of LaTulip’s shot. “We talked about coming out strong. (But) you can’t have a quarter that’s 16-4 against a team like Prospect.”

Elk Grove was also able to make it a close first half by grabbing 8 offensive rebounds. In the second half, Prospect owned a 16-9 rebounding advantage.

But part of that came with the Knights’ shooting touch. Prospect was 8-of-12 from the floor in the third quarter and hit 67 percent in the second half (14-of21). Prospect pounded the ball down low to 6-9 center Will Botefuhr, who finished with a career-high 18 points.

“I thought we’d have the advantage, but they worked harder than us (rebounding in the first half),” Botefuhr said.

Sean Gordon led the Grenadiers with 10 points, but as a team Elk Grove struggled shooting the ball and finished 17-of-62 from the floor. Prospect did have 8 blocks, with Botefuhr and Danny O’Brien both recording three.

“It was a tale of two halves,” Prospect coach John Camardella said. “They had 8 offensive rebounds in the first half. They were really getting after the balls in the first half. Elk Grove was crashing very hard from the weak side.”