Marmion's Smith shines

One senior in particular sure had a lot of fun on Kaneland's Senior Night Saturday.

The senior, however, wasn't from Kaneland -- it was Tyler Smith.

Smith, a 6-foot-3 forward on the Marmion basketball team, scored a game-high 26 points, hit clutch free throws and grabbed 5 rebounds in the Cadets' 60-55 win over Kaneland in Maple Park.

"We had a good shootaround, and I was hitting all my shots," Smith said. "My teammates found me open and it was pretty easy from there."

"Tyler stepped up," Marmion coach Rashon Burno added. "He played well for us."

Smith was on early, as he netted 12 points in the first quarter -- 9 of which came from 3-point land, which helped the Cadets outscore the Knights, 17-10.

Marmion took its first double-digit lead early in the third after a basket from Smith. That was part of a 10-0 run that allowed the Cadets to take their largest lead of the game, 36-18.

Kaneland, however, chipped away at Marmion's lead and ended up having a solid fourth quarter. In the middle of the quarter, the Knights went on a 7-0 run and eventually reduced Marmion's lead to single digits with 2:53 remaining in the game after a pair of Dave Dudzinski free throws.

Within a minute and a half, however, the Cadets got the lead up to 56-47, but the Knights used one final comeback.

In the final 1:11, the Knights went on an 8-0 run, including back-to-back 3-pointers from Mike Pritchard and Nick Wagner.

Wagner's trey reduced Marmion's lead to 56-55 with 54 seconds to go.

"We did a great job of coming back and playing hard," Kaneland coach Dennis Hansen said. "We just weren't hitting shots (in the first three quarters)…but in the last five minutes, we started hitting them."

Wagner's 3-pointer would be Kaneland's final basket, as Marmion's Sean Fichtel and Smith nailed clutch free throws in the end.

"That's what is going to win high school ballgames this late in the season," Burno said of fourth-quarter free throws.

Wagner, one of three Kaneland seniors, finished with a team-high 20 points, 9 of which were scored in the fourth quarter. Dudzinski finished with 13 points, 8 rebounds and Pritchard led all players off the bench with 11.

"We didn't give up," Hansen said. "But we shouldn't be in that situation where we have to come back from being down 18 (points)."