Kaneland can't find answer for Nordman

The Kaneland boys basketball team's biggest problem Tuesday night against Rochelle was No. 32.

No. 32 -- as in Rochelle senior Matt Nordman, who tallied his second 30-plus game of the year with 32 points for the Hubs, who topped the Knights 88-67 in Western Sun Conference play in Maple Park.

"Every shot he took -- he's 6-foot-6 -- sometimes we had a hand in his face," Kaneland coach Dennis Hansen said of Nordman. "But the effort was there. We were hustling. We just got beat by a better team tonight. We shot the ball well, but they shot it better."

"(Nordman) was a unanimous all-conference pick last year, and his (32 points) shows you why," added Rochelle coach Russ Zick said. "It's nice to have a (6-foot-6) kid inside."

Nordman finished with four 3-pointers and went 6-for-6 at the free throw line.

"He's one of the best shooters I've ever seen," Zick said.

There were five ties in the first half, and both times the Hubs went on a run, Nordman was always a big part of it. When Rochelle went on a 7-0 run toward the end of the first half, he scored 4 of those points.

As the quarter was winding down, Nordman hit a 3-pointer and a pair of free throws that allowed the Hubs to take a 37-31 lead at the break.

In the third quarter, however, the game was tied three more times and Kaneland (2-4, 1-2) took as much as a 47-43 lead with 2:58 remaining in the quarter after a basket by Brody Root.

Rochelle (3-4, 1-1), however, went on a 9-0 run after that and capped the third on a trey from Nordman at the buzzer that gave the Hubs a 60-53 lead.

Rochelle built on its lead by scoring the first 8 points of the fourth quarter. It ended up outscoring the Knights 28-14 in the final frame.

"Our shots weren't going down and we weren't getting back on defense," Kaneland senior Nick Wagner said.

"I thought we were going to hang with them. We wanted to win this one so bad today."

Wagner ended up leading the Knights with his 15 points and 5 rebounds. Dave Dudzinski finished with 14 points, 2 blocks and 5 rebounds while Steve Colombe tallied 13.