'Unselfish' Prospect beats Wheeling

Prospect's 79-63 boys basketball road victory over Mid-Suburban foe Wheeling on Saturday night was highlighted by great team basketball by the Knights plus lots and lots of fouls.

Prospect (10-6, 5-1) totaled 16 assists as it moved back into a tie for first in the East with Hersey. The game featured a combined 47 fouls by the two squads, resulting in an astronomical total of 60 free-throw attempts.

"We're an unselfish team," Prospect senior forward Matt Loebbaka said. "We've got confidence in everyone who is on the floor. We share the ball. We know it is going to go in the basket regardless of who is shooting."

The 6-foot-6 Loebbaka turned in a monster individual effort, finishing with 15 points and 15 rebounds. Backed by Loebbaka, the Knights snared 39 team rebounds compared to 13 for Wheeling.

"That's always been a focus for us," Loebbaka said. "We know we've got a decent height advantage most nights.

"We try to use that as best we can. That's kind of been our focus point in practice, getting rebounds and getting it (the ball) up to our guards so we can get easy baskets. I think we did that pretty well tonight."

In addition to Loebbaka's big night, Prospect got a game-high 21 points from junior guard Mike LaTulip and a dozen points from senior forward Terry Redding.

"I felt really good about that passes we were making tonight," Prospect coach John Camardella said. "I felt like it was a really good team effort to keep us moving in the right direction."

LaTulip said there is no better measure for a team than how it shares the basketball.

"Some teams can get selfish, but the true testament for what kind of team you are is how you share the ball," LaTulip said. "I thought we did a great job of that tonight."

The first time these two teams played this season, Prospect won by 49 points, so the Wildcats (4-13, 0-6) showed improvement this time. But coach John Clancy said his team had too many defensive mental lapses in the first half, when Prospect built a 20-point lead.

"They are so well-coached," Clancy said of Prospect. "I've got nothing but respect for coach Camardella and what he has done there. Their kids are intelligent. They know how to play.

"When one guy has a breakdown in coverage they are so smart. They find the open man. They are so solid. LaTulip's a great player, but they've got a lot of other good pieces fitting in there too."

Senior guard Nick Boyd led Wheeling with 18 points and senior guard Tyler Shapiro added 10.