DeKalb gets past Kaneland in battle of big men

The much-anticipated first meeting of the season between DeKalb's 6-foot-10 Jordan Threloff and Kaneland's 6-foot-9 Dave Dudzinski did not disappoint boys basketball fans.

Last year, the Barbs had their way with the Knights, beating them twice handily by an average margin of 17.5 points. Threloff scored a total of 46 points in those two victories while Dudzinski was limited to only 9.5 points per contest.

In Friday's Western Sun Conference contest, Dudzinski scored a game-high 22 points, but Threloff and the Barbs once again came away victorious, beating the Knights 44-40.

"We're still getting used to playing fast and physical and they bodied up, played hard and played physical," Kaneland coach Brian Johnson said. "We lost and I'm not a big fan of moral victories but my guys are going to learn what it takes to compete with the big boys like DeKalb and the Batavia's and Geneva's of the world."

Kaneland (3-2 overall, 1-1 Western Sun) scored the first 8 points of the third quarter to take a 30-23 lead. DeKalb went scoreless for nearly 5 minutes to start the second half. The drought finally ended when Pat Rourke drained a 3-pointer and the Barbs eventually clawed back to trail 32-30 after three quarters.

Unfortunately for the Knights they'd have to deal with a scoring drought of their own as the Barbs went on an 8-0 run to open the fourth quarter and take a 38-32 lead.

"Our three captains, (Jordan) Threloff, (Dylan) Donnelly) and (Pat) Rourke sustain when we go through peaks and valleys like that," DeKalb coach David Rohlman said. "They've got the experience not to panic and just kept working on it."

Dudzinski finally found the bottom of the net for the Knights with a 3-pointer with 2:36 remaining. It was Kaneland's first basket since a Dudzinski dunk with 25 seconds left in the third quarter and amazingly, the Knights still only trailed 38-35.

"As long as I can stay out of foul trouble I know I can help by scoring, rebounding and playing defense," Dudzinski said. "We're excited about what we're capable of becoming and are never going to back down."

DeKalb looked like it might've put the game out of reach at 42-35 with under 40 seconds remaining but Dudzinski drained his third 3-pointer of the night while teammate Matt Cowans was fouled.

Cowans, who didn't play in the first half, calmly sank both shots from the charity stripe to allow the Knights to creep to within 42-40.

DeKalb missed the front end of back-to-back one-and-ones but Kaneland committed an offensive foul and turned the ball over before Threloff split a pair of free throws to make it a two-possession game with 11.2 seconds remaining.

"I give a lot of credit to Coach Johnson because I think that's the hardest I've seen the Kaneland kids play in 5 years," Rohlman said. "They did what we thought they were going to do."

As did Threloff and Dudzinski. Threloff, who played all 32 minutes, led the Barbs with 16 points, 10 rebounds and 4 blocks. In addition to scoring 22 points, Dudzinski collected 8 rebounds for the Knights.

"I love playing against (Dudzinski)," Threloff said. "It's usually pretty close when we play and it's always fun to play against another big player, especially in your conference."

While the Dudzinski-Threloff matchup reigned supreme, the Knights have to wonder if they would've been on the winning end if only they could've gotten some consistent outside scoring and played with a little more composure. Chaon Denlinger (7 points) didn't have many open looks and Ryley Bailey (1-of-7 from three-point range) was just off the mark.

"Ryley takes losses like this really personal and he wants to make those shots," Johnson said. "Sometimes we play a little too fast and make some mental errors, but we're going to figure it out. All the kids are on board and they're tough kids."

The teams will meet again in DeKalb on Jan. 22.