Kaneland's lead slips away at Plano
Kaneland had Newark right where it wanted Monday in the quarterfinals of the 53rd annual Plano Christmas Classic.
The Knights scored the first 9 points of the third quarter to take their biggest lead, then watched as Newark's 6-foot-6 center Jack Clausel fouled out in the closing seconds of the quarter.
With its 185 student body the Norsemen certainly aren't afraid of a challenge, and they took it to the Knights with their 1,329 enrollment in the fourth quarter, scoring 27 points for a 66-62 come-from-behind win.
"I felt really good," Kaneland coach Joe Conroy said. "I thought we were doing all the things we wanted to. We talked about they are a really good basketball team and they are going to play right to the end."
Newark (11-1), which has won 11 straight since losing an 8-point lead in the final 2 minutes to Rockford Jefferson, will play LaSalle-Peru at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the semifinals. Top-seeded LaSalle-Peru won by forfeit Monday when Genoa-Kingston didn't make the trip through the rough weather.
Kaneland (6-2), who will play Genoa at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, led 30-29 at halftime after a back-and-forth half with 15 ties or lead changes. Dylan Vaca came off the bench to score 14 of his game-high 23 points.
Mark Lilly opened the third quarter with a 3-pointer. Vaca's conventional 3-point play put the Knights up 42-31.
Newark's Steve McGrath closed the third quarter with a corner 3 at the buzzer, bringing the Norsemen within 44-39 and changing the momentum, according to Conroy.
"We need to understand how to control a lead instead of letting a lead sink," Conroy said. "When they made the 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter I knew that was a big, big shot. And I'm not sure the kids really understood that. That was a big play, that was just great coaching. I had seen them run it before and they executed it perfectly."
Evan Schomer's 3 put Newark ahead 51-50 with 5 minutes left, and the Norsemen went up 6 before a pair of clutch 3s from Ryan David. The game was tied at 58, 60 and 62 in the final 2:01, the Knights pulling even on free throws from Ethan Conroy and a short jumper by Mitchel Groen.
McGrath broke the final tie with 2 free throws at :31, giving Newark a 64-62 lead. Lilly was whistled for traveling, then after Newark split free throws Kaneland had a chance to tie with 10 seconds to go but David's long 3 was off the mark.
"I couldn't be more proud of these boys to come back and fight like that with Jack on the bench," Newark coach Rick Tollefson said. "Who would have thunk it? Kaneland does everything well. We are very fortunate to come out with a win."
McGrath and Schomer combined for 35 points for Newark, who got 11 points and 11 assists from Will Clausel.
David added 11 points and 7 rebounds and Lilly 6 points and 6 assists for the Knights.
"That was a great high school basketball game," Joe Conroy said.
"I think they are a really good basketball team. I think they played at a much faster pace today with us and they showed they can play either way. They can play it slow, they can play it fast. I'm super impressed with them."