advertisement

Kaneland picks up win over Yorkville

After snapping a nine-game losing streak Tuesday night at Morris, the Kaneland boys basketball team wasn't about to let a chance at a rare winning streak slip away.

Senior guard Jake Hed buried four 3-pointers as part of a game-high 18-point performance while senior Mason Conroy collected all 9 of his points in the second half as the Knights earned a 43-33 Northern Illinois Big XII East victory over Yorkville Friday night in Maple Park.

Kaneland (6-15, 3-4) defeated the Foxes for the third time this season and notched consecutive victories for the first time since opening the season with a pair of wins.

"This team needs momentum and confidence," said Kaneland coach Joe Conroy. "We know that Morris is an incredibly hard place to win at, so to go down there and come back from an 11-point deficit to win was huge for us and carried over tonight."

"Coach has been telling the seniors they need to step up, so I've been just trying to fill my role," Hed said. "It's definitely nice winning again and getting off that losing streak."

While both teams combined for just 7 first half field goals and found themselves tied at 15-15, the Knights came out energized after the intermission.

Hed hit a pair of trifectas and scored on a strong baseline drive while Conroy connected on a 3-pointer to help Kaneland seize a 28-19 advantage.

"When we needed big shots, Jake stepped up for us," Joe Conroy said. "He was amazing tonight and what happens is they had to key on him and that opened up another guy."

Yorkville (9-8, 2-3) missed its first seven 3-point attempts, but connected on three in a row in the fourth quarter to shave the lead to 32-30 with 4:26 remaining.

Kaneland regrouped defensively and limited the Foxes to just 3 points the rest of the way.

Conroy delivered a pair of key baskets and Rhett Espe made 5 free throws in the final two minutes to seal the win."

"We just had to settle down and play the way we had defensively for most of the game," Hed said.

"Yorkville did a great job adjusting to our zones and hit some threes, but we got a couple of key stops down the stretch and grabbed big rebounds, which has been our nemesis in a couple of close losses," Joe Conroy said.

Espe finished with a team-high 6 rebounds for Kaneland while Dan Franck contributed 6 points and 4 rebounds.

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.