Prospect shooting barrage blitz GBS

No defensive adjustment Glenbrook South seemed to make any difference in stopping Prospect.

The Knights came out of the gate firing, scoring 19 points in the first quarter and never looked back as they cruised to a 62-36 win to improve to 14-4 on the season.

Despite being a sub-.500 team and not having won a single game in conference, GBS has been on everybody’s radar with a signature win over St. Viator, while giving teams like New Trier, Evanston, and Waukegan significant scares.

“We took this team as seriously as we did any conference opponent,” said Prospect head coach John Camardella. “As soon as that Elk Grove game ended on Friday just out of respect to who they are and what they’ve done we got to work.”

The preparation certainly paid off as Prospect got out to a flying start, dismantling GBS’ zone behind three David Swedura three pointers in the first quarter alone as the Knights raced out to a 19-2 lead.

It was more of the same in the second quarter, as GBS seemed content with sitting back and letting Prospect shoot right over them as Sam Murray got in on the action with three, three pointers of his own, giving Prospect eight in the first half.

Camardella said: “We prepped for zone, we were looking for how they covered corners and rotated and we got up a boatload of shots at practice the other day, and we tell our guys all the time ‘hot or about to get hot’ which are the only two mental states you’re allowed to have here at Prospect.”

When GBS finally made the switch to man defence after halftime, Prospect countered with junior wing Jon Kreidler.

Kreidler, who is a tremendous shooter in his own right, showed off his versatility by scoring nine third quarter points, all in the post to give Prospect a 25 point lead after the third quarter.

“David, Sam, and just a bunch of guys were banging threes in the beginning,” said Kreidler. “They had to obviously go out and guard them and I knew one of the guys was a little smaller than I was so I just figured I’d try to work the post and see how many I could get.”

GBS were never able to make a late run of it and never threatened Prospect with any sort of comeback attempt as the Knights finished the night with their bench in for the last three minutes, to close out the 62-36 win.

The most impressive aspect of Prospect’s win was not the margin of victory, but rather taking care of a non-conference opponent in the waining weeks of the season with playoffs and a conference title still on the line.

While many teams almost seem to shut down towards the end of the season with more practices than games, Prospect are arguably playing their best basketball as of late and will be an extremely tough out in a loaded Maine East sectional.

“On a Tuesday night, empty gym, you can imagine this can be a buzzsaw game,” said Camardella. “We’re in a really nice position here fighting for a division title because every game counts and our guys have been locked in. We got blitzed early but we had a really good moment as a team and realized it was a long season and eince then this team has been on a totally different trajectory.”

“We have done a good job of seeing the season as a whole and realizing we can get better,” added Kreidler. “We push ourselves hard in practice and that shows in games.”

Prospect had four players score in double figures led by Murray (14), Kreidler (12), Swedura (12) and Jalen McLachlan (10), with additional help from Tim Lussenhop who didn’t score, but had seven rebounds and seven assists on the night. GBS was led by sophomore Dom Martinelli with 11 points.

The road does not get any easier for GBS as they will look to get off the mark in conference with a game against No. 7 Niles North on Friday, while Prospect will play host to Buffalo Grove.