Kaneland slams door on DeKalb
The way Kaneland struggled to score in the first half Friday against DeKalb, it seemed the Knights needed to pitch a shutout in the second half to win.
The Knights came close. shutting the Barbs out in the third quarter to regain control. They then overcame awful free-throw shooting in the final quarter to hold on for a 46-43 victory.
Trailing 23-19 at halftime after making just 8 of 24 shots in the first half, Kaneland outscored DeKalb 13-0 in the third quarter to take a 32-23 lead.
"The boys played hard, they responded," Kaneland coach Brian Johnson said. "We needed to. We were having trouble scoring. That second quarter we couldn't get any rhythm. We needed a stellar defensive effort, and they worked hard at it."
Kaneland (14-8, 6-2) stayed a game behind Northern Illinois Big 12 leader Rochelle heading into a pair of key road games the next two Fridays at Yorkville and Rochelle.
That fact is what helped the Knights play such good defense in the third quarter, Kaneland senior Chaon Denlinger said. Johnson wrote "conference champion" on the board at halftime which was all the Knights needed to see.
"It was the motivation that we are still in this that we came out and played intense defense and got the buckets when we needed to," Denlinger said.
DeKalb (6-20, 2-6) only attempted 6 shots in the third quarter and turned the ball over 6 times. Denlinger's floater regained the lead for the Knights at 25-23, and Trever Heinle, Zach Ringhouse and Sean Carter all scored over the final five minutes of the quarter for the 9-point lead heading to the fourth.
But just as quick as Kaneland built a lead as big as 35-23 with 7:27 left in the game the Barbs got right back in it with a 12-0 run to tie the game at 35. Kaneland was its own worst enemy, turning the ball over five times in that stretch.
The Knights finally settled down and retook the lead for good 37-35 when Daniel Helm found Denlinger on a backdoor cut with 4:01 left.
Kaneland scored its next 5 points at the free-throw line to build a 42-38 lead with 58.1 seconds left though it would have been a much bigger advantage if not for 6 for 16 free-throw shooting in the final quarter including a pair of missed front ends of 1-and-1s. Helm and Ringhouse broke free from DeKalb's full court press for layups and a 46-40 lead, then DeKalb's Brian Sisler closed the scoring with a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Sisler's 11 points led DeKalb, and Andre Harris who sprained his ankle Tuesday at Elgin and missed the last two days of practice came off the bench with 8 points, 11 rebounds and 3 blocked shots.
"I'm very proud of our kids, they did everything I thought they needed to to get a victory tonight," DeKalb coach Dave Rohlman said.
Denlinger led all scorers with 20 points. Helm added 10 points, 2 blocks and tied Denlinger with 7 rebounds.
The last time DeKalb played on Kaneland's court was in last year's Class 3A regional championship. The Barbs won that night by 3, Kaneland won by 2 in the first meeting this year and now another 3-point margin.
"They've been great games," Rohlman said. "You have to give Brian Johnson a lot of credit for that. Since he's come on board here they are a much improved program. I enjoy this game."