Patiently, New Trier spoils Prospect's plans

Prospect coach John Camardella couldn't have been more pleased at halftime, as his Knights led highly regarded New Trier 27-24 Friday night in the finals of the Class 4A regional at Glenbrook South in Glenview.

"We executed our game plan as tightly as we could," said Camardella. "I was impressed with the energy that we had considering we had one day to practice."

Sophomore Mike LaTulip (19 points) hit for his fourth 3-pointer of the night, and Prospect had a 30-24 lead with 6:49 left after the break.

New Trier was not about to let that continue, and the Trevians eventually pulled away to a 61-55 victory.

The Trevians started to switch defenses with regularity, and that seemed to cause confusion for the Knights' offense.

Consecutive 3 pointers by John Hurley (15 points) and a score off of a steal by J.B. McCallum gave New Trier (22-4) a short-lived lead at 32-30.

Mike LaTulip hit for 2 free throws and Joe LaTulip knocked down a short jumper for the last Knights lead of the game at 34-32 with 4:14 left in the quarter.

Connor Boehm countered with a putback to tie the game and converted 2 free throws with 2:44 left in the quarter to give the Trevians the lead for good at 36-34.

Alex Rossi (19 points) and Hurley finished the quarter with baskets for a 40-34 lead.

"We couldn't let them keep doing what they were doing in the first half," said New Trier coach Scott Fricke. "We had to keep pressure on them no matter what the score was. We knew they could shoot their way back."

"I think we just played smarter in the second half," said Rossi. "We just couldn't keep letting those two guys (the LaTulips) keep beating us."

Despite 11 of their 16 turnovers in the second half, the Knights (17-10) were able to stick close.

Prospect did creep to within 45-43 after a 3-pointer from Jack Redding (8 pts) with 5:56 left.

Boehm then hit for a hoop, Rossi connected on 2 free throws, and Boehm hit a short jumper to open a 51-43 advantage with 3:21 remaining.

New Trier made the lead stand up by going 8-for-8 at the foul line down the stretch.

"They gave us some problems with the switches in the second half," said Joe LaTulip. "But, hey we battled them all the way to the end. They were prepared for us."

"They hit their free throws at the end and it was hard to overcome that," said Camardella. "We had that lull in February where we struggled, but over the last week we had our positive feeling back."

"We set a lot of goals for our season," said Joe LaTulip. "We didn't reach all of them, but we did accomplish quite a few."