Kaneland stifles Yorkville

On court, Kaneland's 1-3-1 defense looked much as all such zones do - one player out high, a row of three defenders in the middle and then one player down low.

And the Knights play it very well, moving and trapping and setting the classic rebounding "arc" that occurs when the row of three turn to face the basket.

But what was unique on Saturday as the makeup of the personnel in that zone. Christian Dillon and Dave Dudzinski, the Knights' tallest players, played on the wings in the center row, leaving Mike Pritchard, who is just over 6 feet, in the middle.

But it worked. The wingspans of Dillon, who is 6-7, and Dudzinski, who stands 6-9, made the zone wider than normal; Pritchard played like a rebounding fiend in the center and Yorkville struggled nearly all night.

And when it was all over, Kaneland owned a 61-48 Western Sun Conference victory.

"They made some shots in the third quarter," Kaneland coach Dennis Hansen said. "But we were making them work to get shots. That was the key, I thought. They did a nice job moving the ball, but we were in their face most of the night."

Dudzinski had 14 points and 7 rebounds; Dillon added 5 points while Pritchard added 11 points and 5 rebounds on a night when balance was a byword for Kaneland's offense.

"The biggest thing is we rebounded," Hansen said. "We got some bit defensive rebounds but we got some big offensive rebounds too. Our defensive pressure seemed to wear them down out there."

Kaneland (6-5. 1-3) raced to a 15-5 lead after the end of the first quarter, and held a 31-17 halftime edge. Yorkville's big push came in the second half. Buoyed by 14 points by Luke Parece, the Foxes (1-9, 0-3) closed to 41-35 entering the fourth quarter.

"(Parece) can shoot the ball and he's one of our scorers," Yorkville coach Jerry Farber said. "You have to have a scorer. It seemed like our other guys couldn't get shots. We didn't move it quick enough, and you don't beat zones that way."

Kaneland slowly built its lead to 50-38 on a Dudzinski basket with 5 minutes left. This time, there was no Yorkville reply.

"Their length on the wings caused us problems," Farber said. "We're small up front and we're trying to pass it over the top of 6-7 kids. It's not going to work."

Parece finished with 19 points to lead Yorkville and was the only Foxes player in double-digit scoring. Kaneland was much more balanced. In addition to Dudzinski and Pritchard, Ryley Bailey scored 12 points and Brody Root added 9.