Of the nine seniors on Prospect’s boys’ basketball team, eight of them started playing together on the Knights’ feeder team in sixth grade.
When the Knights played five games in three days in June, winning a shoot out at Columbia University in New York, the bond and skills developed over nearly seven years of basketball togetherness blossomed.
“It’s when we all came together and knew how special a team we could be,” senior Matt Woloch of Arlington Heights said. “We had three games the first day. We all played really well together. It showed us what we could do together as a group.”
Those attributes were on display during the Knights’ opening round 59-32 victory over Deerfield in the 42nd annual Wheeling Hardwood Classic on Dec. 23, where Prospect finished seventh in the four-game holiday tournament.
With a balanced scoring attack featuring nine players contributing, Woloch said the Knights (6-7, 1-2 Mid Suburban East) demonstrated their potential. No one scored in double figures with Woloch, Steve Mack and Owen Schneider leading the team with nine each.
“It was our first game where we were able to get second rebounds,” Woloch said. “We did a good job of blocking out and not letting them get set. We need to do that all year.”
Woloch said the balanced scoring Prospect has shown most of the season is important. They are not afraid to move the ball around looking for the right shot.
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“We swing the ball around until we find a good shot,” Woloch said. “If one guy doesn’t have a shot the next guy will have it or the next one. We keep swinging the ball around until we get everybody included.”
Prospect coach John Camardella said the Columbia trip also helped Woloch emerge as a leader. The Knights were one of six teams with the others coming from New York, Pennsylvania and Puerto Rico.
“That’s when (Woloch) really started to show his leadership ability,” Camardella said. “He was leading the team in all our New York sessions.”
Brian Dini, another Prospect senior who was part of that sixth grade feeder group, said Woloch showed leadership skills both to the players he has known for years and newcomers alike.
“He was vocal with everyone,” Dini, of Mount Prospect, said. “He really made an effort to get to know the younger guys. It’s over the summer teams grow and learn to play together. We had fun. We knew we had something.”
Woloch said the New York trip helped players ease into leadership roles.
“The better they feel about the team, the easier it is to lead the team,” Woloch said. “It helps to understand them to help them as a leader.”
Though the team jelled in New York, Woloch said the relationships that began in sixth grade laid a foundation.
“We’re as strong as any team out there,” Woloch said. “The bond is unbreakable.”
Steve Sadin is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Twitter @Pioneer_Press