Not meant to be for Kaneland in loss to DeKalb
Kaneland broke from its normal postgame routine following a 50-47 loss to DeKalb Friday night in the championship game of the Class 3A Kaneland regional.
The Knights got out the videotape to take another look at how their near miraculous comeback from 7 points down with 23 seconds to play wound up falling just short.
A Steve Colombe 3-pointer, DeKalb turnover, Colombe basket and a DeKalb missed free throw had the Knights in position to steal a regional championship the Barbs looked like they had won when they led 49-42 with 23 seconds remaining.
With possession on its half of the court and 7.1 seconds to go, the Knights worked the ball in the corner to Chaon Denlinger, who had just hit two fourth-quarter baskets. DeKalb's 6-10 center Jordan Threloff charged at Denlinger, who then found Dave Dudzinski in perfect position to score down low.
Dudzinski went up and appeared to have his arm grabbed, but when he came down the call was traveling. Pat Rourke's free throw with .8 seconds left gave the Barbs their 3-point win.
"It was ridiculous," Dudzinski said. "I don't know how a guy can send a team home like that."
DeKalb (23-8) will play Freeport Wednesday night at the Class 3A Hampshire sectional. The Barbs had their own problems with the way things went in the final minute when the clock didn't start on at least two inbounds plays and officials had to go back and take time off the clock.
All the controversy in the final minute was a stark contrast to a well-played game by both teams over the first 31 minutes in front of a near capacity, energized crowd.
As even as the two teams were, so was the play of the two Division I-bound stars. Threloff (Illinois State) finished with 18 points, 17 rebounds and 3 blocked shots, which Dudzinski (Holy Cross) bettered slightly with 23 points, 14 rebounds and 5 blocked shots.
"That was a great high school basketball game," DeKalb coach Dave Rohlman said. "Obviously we are happy we won but it's unfortunate someone has to lose that game."
Kaneland (17-10) came out on fire. Colombe and Dudzinski connected on 3-pointers to start the scoring.
The Knights led the entire first quarter, their largest at 15-6 after Tyler Callaghan's 3-pointer and Dudzinski's basket inside.
Dudzinski scored 9 points in the opening quarter; Threloff had 12 including a hustling tip-in on a missed fastbreak layup in the closing seconds that brought the Barbs within 17-16.
"He (Dudzinski) didn't want to go home, I sure as heck didn't want to go home," Threloff said. "It was just a battle to the end. Emotions, everything was left on the court."
There were 7 ties or lead changes in the second quarter, with Dudzinski's jumper giving Kaneland a 29-28 halftime lead. Dudzinski scored 19 points in the first half.
"It seemed like that first half was definitely a battle between me and Jordan to see who could establish themselves," Dudzinski said. "He made some great moves and I tried to counter it."
The Barbs switched to a box-and-one in the second half that limited Dudzinski's touches.
"We weren't satisfied with our defense," Threloff said. "We knew if we could limit his (Dudzinski's) scoring we would be all right."
The Knights held a 33-30 lead midway through the third quarter when DeKalb senior guard Dylan Donnelly got hot.
His first of three second-half 3-pointers tied the game at 33. Threloff scored to give DeKalb a lead it never relinquished, then back-to-back Donnelly layups made it 39-33. Kaneland point guard Ryley Bailey's NBA-range 3-poitner at the third quarter buzzer cut the Barbs' lead to 39-36.
Kaneland didn't score for the first four minutes of the fourth quarter. Consecutive 3-pointers by Donnelly put the Barbs ahead 45-38 with three minutes to go, and four straight free throws by Jake Jouris and Threloff gave DeKalb a seemingly safe 49-42 cushion and under 30 seconds to play.
Until Colombe led the Knights' frantic push in the closing seconds, Kaneland had scored just 13 points in the first 15:30 of the second half. After making 13 of 21 shots (62 percent) from the field in the first half, they shot 6 of 21 in the second.
"Kudos to them," Kaneland coach Brian Johnson said of DeKalb. "I never thought they'd come out in a box-and-one. That was a great move and we struggled at times. But the guys stayed strong and they got back in the game."
Donnelly added 17 points and 3 steals for the Barbs, who now have won their Christmas tournament, the Western Sun Conference and their first regional since 2002.
"We're not done yet," Threloff said. "If we keep working hard, keep playing together, we'll keep playing."
Kaneland just missed its first regional title since 1999 in Johnson's first year as coach.
"I come in as a first-year coach and challenged them to grow as a team and grow as young men and that's what they did," Johnson said. "They gave me all they had."
Of Dudzinski's 5 blocks, four of them came in the fourth quarter and three on Threloff attempts. He also had two steals when the Barbs tried to get the ball to their big man down low.
Johnson couldn't say enough about the game Dudzinski played Friday or the senior season he had.
"Threloff came out tough and Dave answered every single time," Johnson said. "And Dave is such a conditioned strong player that he just kept going and going and he didn't let up the entire game. I'm so excited for Holy Cross to get a kid like Dave Dudzinski. You can't get a better kid."
As painful as the end was, Dudzinski said there's going to be a day in the future he appreciates what the Knights almost did.
"Tonight was the best I've ever seen our gym," Dudzinski said. "Right now it hurts but eventually I will look back on tonight and smile a little bit because it was fun to go against Jordan one more time."