Take away the game's first 9 points and Wheaton Academy coach Andy Euler didn't mind what he saw Wednesday night against Prospect in the St. Charles Thanksgiving Tournament.

Unfortunately for Euler, Prospect rattled off those first 9 points and never faltered on the way to a 65-54 victory behind guard Mike Schuman's game-high 21 points and 6-foot-8 center Andy Merklein's 17 points and 17 rebounds.

"That was a pretty good basketball team we played, and their big guys run the floor pretty well," Euler said. "You just can't get down 9-0 and dig yourself that big of a hole.

"I thought we played well after that stint, but it just wasn't enough."

The Warriors had trouble keeping Prospect (1-1) away from the basket. Of the 15 baskets the Knights scored in opening a 36-21 halftime lead, 13 were either layups or rebound baskets.

Prospect didn't change that formula in the second half, tallying eight easy layups to go along with 11-of-13 shooting from the free-throw line.

"I thought we played real well (Tuesday night in a 60-47 loss to St. Joseph), so we wanted to build on what we started," Prospect coach Dominic Cannon said. "For some stretches, I thought we played real well."

The first one wasn't bad. Merklein and Schuman showed how an inside-outside tandem should work, as Merklein scored inside, while Schuman hit a 3-pointer and a driving layup. Eric Hedstrom, a 6-7 senior, also tallied in close to the hoop to push the Knights to their 9-0 start.

When Merklein hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to end the half, and Hedstrom opened the third quarter with a layup, the Knights enjoyed their biggest lead of the night at 38-21.

Wheaton Academy kept firing away from the outside and were able to stay competitive as Jason VanderVeen and John Tillery hit 3-pointers in the quarter.

"We're not supposed to (rely on the 3-point shot) because we have some guys inside to get the ball to," Euler said.

One of those was 6-4 senior center Mark Aloisio, who led his team with 13 points but had only one basket while hitting 11 of 12 free throws.

"Aloisio was getting bumped in there, and sometimes the referee will let that stuff go if everybody is big and they just won't call it," Euler said in explaining why his center's shots wouldn't fall.

"But honestly, he was getting bumped pretty good. But you have to trust the referees."

Axel Cerny, who scored 12 points, hit a 3-pointer and Tillery, who finished with 10, converted a 3-point play off a steal midway through the fourth quarter to trim Prospect's lead to 54-46. But the Knights went back inside for 2 layups down the stretch to go with Schuman's 6 free throws.

"The guys I was covering were way out by the free-throw line or 3-point line sometimes, so I just went right in and got rebounds," Merklein said of his dominant performance.

"Coach said there would be some long rebounds tonight because they shoot so many 3-pointers, but it seemed like most of them came right off to me."