Kaneland's team effort too much for Yorkville
The number of times Dave Dudzinski finishes as Kaneland's fourth-leading scorer in his stellar career probably equals the number of times he goes nearly 32 minutes without a 2-point field goal.
And the number of times both of those happen and Kaneland still wins? That would be an even smaller number.
Yet that's just what the Knights did Thursday against Yorkville. The Foxes held the Holy Cross bound senior to 10 points, only to watch the rest of the Knight starters step up and play key roles in their 55-50 victory.
Other than a 3-point shot in the third quarter, Dudzinski only scored from the field on a breakaway layup with 16 seconds remaining with the Foxes pressing and the Knights clinging to a 52-50 lead.
"It's fun to see everyone score and play well," said Kaneland junior Chaon Denlinger, who led the Knights with 15 points.
Ryley Bailey and Donavan Williams both added 12 points, making Yorkville pay for the attention it sent Dudzinski's way.
"He's a tough kid, he's good with the basketball. We had to try to find something to offset him," Yorkville coach Jerry Farber said. "Their outside kids hit some 3s, hats off to them. They have a lot of weapons there."
Yorkville (3-3, 1-1) used a zone that frustrated the Knights much of the game. The Foxes jumped to a 13-6 lead after the first quarter.
"We got kind of complacent and stand against zones and tried to get more movement," Kaneland coach Brian Johnson said. "We have to move more against zones and if we don't move more teams are just going to zone us because Dave is such a big threat against man. That (zones) is what they saw last year and we're starting to see some of it this year."
Kaneland (4-2, 2-1) played its best basketball in the second quarter, outscoring the Foxes 15-4 to take a 21-17 halftime lead. Steve Colombe came off the bench to drain consecutive 3-pointers before Denlinger's basket put the Knights ahead to stay, 16-15.
While Yorkville never regained the lead, the Foxes stayed within striking distance the final two-and-a-half quarters. Kaneland pushed its advantage to 9 points three times in the third quarter only to see Travis Gibson bring Yorkville as close as 43-42 in the fourth quarter.
Dudzinski made 5 of 6 free throws to help protect the lead while the rest of the Knights combined to go 7 of 13.
Kaneland caught a break when Gibson fouled out with 36 seconds to go in a 3-point game. The senior led all scorers with 21 points, 14 in the second half.
"He hit some big shots and he's a good player," Johnson said. "He makes you work. We were lucky to have him out of the game that's for sure."
Kaneland's 3-of-12 shooting in the first quarter concerned Johnson. Even though their seven 3-pointers helped them win, Johnson wants to make sure they don't settle for that shot too often.
"Sometimes you have those nights," Johnson said. "They sat in that zone and made us work for every bucket. We get a little 3 happy and sometimes we struggle."
"We started to shoot the 3 and it wasn't falling," Denlinger said. "(Coach) said we have a big guy and if you get it to him we can score. What he (Dudzinski) does is he creates for us. If we get him the ball more then we'll get more shots."
Yorkville's Derek Fitzpatrick added 12 points.
"I'm proud of my kids, they had a chance to win it that's all you can ask," Faber said. "It's tough to win on the road in this league. We have a chance to beat them at home."