Prospect produces winning effort at Rolling Meadows
The defensive effort from Prospect's boys basketball team in the first half at Rolling Meadows on Saturday night was eye-popping.
The Knights allowed the Mustangs only 1 field goal in the first 16 minutes enroute to a 53-33 Mid-Suburban East victory.
Still, despite the 20-point margin of victory that showed on the scoreboard, both coaches thought it was anybody's game for the taking after two quarters of play.
"I thought we played very well in the first half," said Meadows coach Kevin Katovich, whose team trailed only 15-6 at the break but didn't help itself by shooting only 4-for-9 from the free throw line before halftime. "We did a nice job. We just couldn't make a shot."
"They (Rolling Meadows) were getting us to play the game at their pace," agreed Prospect coach John Camardella. "We had to switch things up a little at the beginning of the third quarter."
The Knights were able to take control of the tempo right from the get-go in the second half, as junior guard Frankie Mack (team-high 15 points) opened the third quarter with a tip-in, then 2 free throws to stake the visitors to their first double-digit lead of the night.
"We knew it would be a slower game tonight," said Mack. "Rolling Meadows likes to play at a slow pace. We knew in the second half we were going to have to speed things up defensively, and with our trapping defense we were able to create some turnovers for our offense."
Prospect junior forward Matt Szuba extended the Knights' lead early in the third quarter with a 12-foot turnaround jumper, then 3-point baskets from Szuba and senior Liam Benson saw the Knights open up a 29-11 advantage.
The Mustangs tried to stage a comeback as junior Jared Murphy scored 6 third-quarter points, but behind the efforts of Mack, sophomore guard David Swedura (10 points) and Antonio Gardner (5 points) the Knights (10-7, 5-1) opened up a 47-20 lead, their biggest of the evening.
"They're just a good team," said Katovich of Prospect. "They basically did anything they wanted to do in the second half."
Meadows junior guard Jack Schoessling scored 8 of his team-high 13 points in the fourth quarter, but the Mustangs couldn't overcome the complete game effort of Szuba.
The junior scored 7 points but more importantly added 10 rebounds.
"Matt's our quarterback out there," said Camardella. "He was outstanding tonight."
Benson finished with 5 points for the Knights while teammate Michael Ritchie scored 5 as well.
"We started four juniors and a sophomore tonight," said Camardella. "They all did a great job."
Murphy tallied 10 points for Meadows, but the home team seemed out of synch on offense the entire contest. The Mustangs failed to make a 3-point shot in the game, finishing 0-for-8 from behind the arc.
The Mustangs also couldn't connect from the free throw line, hitting only 9 of 19.
"We're still trying to find our way," said Katovich, who's team fell to 3-14, 1-5 in the MSL East. "We'll continue to work hard and good things will happen."