LaTulips fuels Prospect's rally over Niles North
Prospect was accustomed to fighting uphill battles during its late-season downhill slide.
But now a season and high school careers were at stake as it faced the prospect of a crushing finish to a Niles North team it beat by 26 points in December.
Then Joe and Mike LaTulip got on second-half shooting rolls and everyone else for the seventh-seeded Knights filled their roles Wednesday night.
Once it went to overtime Prospect (17-9) scored the first 10 points of a 69-61 win over No. 10 Niles North in the Glenbrook South Class 4A boys basketball regional semifinal at the Titan Dome in Glenview.
"The biggest thing was how we responded," said Prospect 6-foot-7 senior Jake Suckow. "No matter what, you have to keep responding."
Suckow's layup off Mike LaTulip's feed 1:05 into overtime put Prospect ahead to stay and on its way to Friday's 7:30 p.m. regional final against No. 2 New Trier (22-4).
Senior Joe LaTulip scored 20 of his career-high 30 points after intermission and finished 5-for-10 on 3-pointers.
His sophomore brother Mike got 14 of his 23 in the last 20 minutes and hit three 3s as the Knights rallied from deficits of 37-27 midway through the third and 52-45 with 3:40 left in the fourth.
"The way we've been playing," Joe LaTulip said of losing three straight and five of six coming into the tourney, "to go out like this would be one of the worst possible ways to end a season and career for us seniors."
LaTulip's 3 with 1:58 left in regulation gave Prospect its first lead since the first quarter at 56-54. Mike LaTulip's off-balance 15-footer with 20 seconds left made it 59-57.
A rebound of his own miss with five seconds left by 6-6 junior Abdul Nader (31 points on 11-for-31 shooting, 8 re bounds, 4 assists) tied it for No. 10 Niles North (12-15). But Prospect felt fine even after Joe LaTulip's 35-footer at the horn bounced off the front rim.
"I think we had it in our heads, 'we have to do survive, we have to survive,'" said Mike LaTulip. "Overtime came and we laid it all on the line."
Joe and Mike LaTulip combined to hit all 8 of their free throws in the final 1:59 as they combined to finish 17-for-20.
Getting to overtime was the tough part after Nader and Marlon Senior (19 points) sparked an 11-2 run to start the second half for Niles North, which lost 70-44 to Prospect in a Wheeling tourney opener.
"We felt real good," said first-year Niles North coach and Rolling Meadows grad Glenn Olson. "We talked about trusting the game plan and the kids did it."
But a big lift from Suckow, junior Matt Loebbaka and senior Kevin Matkovic helped get the Knights and the LaTulip's jump-started.
"Those three definitely kept it at bay defensively so Mike and Joe could bring us back in the game," said Prospect coach John Camardella.
Consecutive 3s by Mike LaTulip got Prospect within 52-51 with 3:09 left in regulation. Niles North missed its first seven shots of overtime and didn't score until seven seconds remained.
"They just came back and hit some tough shots," Nader said. "Contested shots and long-range 3s that were going in. There's nothing you can do about that."