Boys Basketball: Prospect’s LaTulip lights up Glenbrook South

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Updated: February 22, 2012 12:10PM

Glenbrook South let a monster out of its cage on Tuesday, and it proceeded to eat the Titans alive.

“We should have stayed in a box-and-one,” South coach Scott Nemecek said after his Titans’ 77-47 loss at Prospect.

The beast was Prospect guard Mike LaTulip. After spending two quarters hounding and pounding LaTulip with its box-and-one approach to contain him, the Titans switched defenses only to see LaTulip score 20 third-quarter points that effectively decided the game.

“We wanted to come out and make a statement,” LaTulip said. “We wanted to get out on the break, and I was just taking what they gave me. I was able to set my feet, I had balance, and the shots went in.”

LaTulip finished with a game-high 26 points, to go with four assists and two steals. And as the Titans hounded LaTulip in the first half, Prospect’s Sammy Frasco decided to have a career night from behind the three-point line.

Frasco hit four treys before halftime in helping Prospect to a 35-18 lead.

“He’s the starting quarterback on the football team. He has never shot like that, ever,” Prospect coach John Camardella said of Frasco. “He looked real comfortable out there tonight.”

The first half might have been much closer, if a Titans’ team that went to the rack and got fouled numerous times would have hit its free throws. Glenbrook South (5-17) went 8-of-19 from the line through two quarters.

“Had we made a couple more free throws and a couple of jump shots, it might have been closer at halftime,” Nemecek said. “We needed to have four timeouts in our pocket and be down 15 or less to have a chance at the end of the game, but it just didn’t happen.”

Prospect (13-7) withstood an opening offensive push from the Titans to start the third quarter, before LaTulip and his boys took over the game. Jack Landwehr scored eight of his 15 points in the period for the Knights, who led 68-39 after three quarters.

The benches emptied for the final quarter as the Knights bounced back well from a gut-wrenching loss on Friday to conference rival Elk Grove, which erased a 16-point Prospect lead.

“That was a tough one so we really needed to make a statement tonight,” LaTulip said. “We did a good job of that, we’re staying focused, and we’re looking to make a good playoff run.”

Ose Ilenikhena led the Titans with 12 points, while Jamie Nikitas scored eight and Victor Levi netted seven. Kevin Somogyi also finished with seven for Prospect.