Kaneland loses 2nd heartbreaker

On so many nights, Chaon Denlinger's 3-pointer from the right corner with 11 seconds to play would have been the precursor to postgame Kaneland celebrations.

But this wasn't one of those nights. Denlinger's trey was spectacular and came in a clutch situation. But then Sandwich came upcourt and got a pull-up jumper in the lane from Justin Wegener that allowed the Indians to claim a 42-40 victory in the fifth-place game of the Plano Christmas Classic.

"I don't ever think you ever feel good about a loss," Denlinger said. "But after we lost the second game here, what we wanted to do was to get three wins out of here. We went 2-2. It's kind of disappointing. But we really know what we need to work on."

Kaneland, the defending tournament champions, lost both games at this tournament in the final seconds.

Denlinger's shot came after Kaneland (8-4) struggled to find an open shot. The Knights trailed much of the game but were within 40-37 entering the final minute. With the offense struggling against Sandwich, which extended its defense to the 3-point arc, suddenly the ball swung to Denlinger, and the Knights crowd hummed and bench rose to its feet. The senior's shot swished for the last of his team-high 17 points.

Wegener was a consistent scorer all night for the Indians and he confounded Kaneland's defense when he dribbled into the frontcourt, then just inside the free-throw line, from where he launched the game-winner.

"He made a nice move," Kaneland coach Brian Johnson said of Wegener said. "I think there were something like three hands on him and he knocked it down. He did that all tournament."

Wegener scored 26 points in the contest and was more than his team's top threat he was Sandwich's only consistent scorer. The next highest total came from Zane Thompson, who scored 5 points.

"(Wegener) is one of the top three or the top four players in this tournament," Johnson said. "They made us pay early on when we came out without a lot of energy."

The Knights were more balanced behind Denlinger, especially with Zach Ringhouse's 8-point effort. But for most of the first quarter, no one on Kaneland's team shot well. Sandwich grabbed a 16-7 after the opening 8 minutes and extended that to 20-7 before Kaneland rallied.

"It seems like a trend this year that we have a slow first quarter," Denlinger said. "When we spot teams 10-point leads in the first quarter, it's hard to get back. You expend a lot of energy to get back into the game."

Denlinger said the way to fix the sequence of poor starts is to have early-game patience.

"Everyone wants to get out and see 'Am I going to be hot this game?'" Denlinger said. "We need to work the ball and get the best shot instead of the first shot."

The Knights rode a 12-point run to claw to 20-19 in the first of repeated rallies when Sandwich surged.

Denlinger brought the Knights to their first tie since early in the game at 25-25 when he hit a jumper 5 minutes into the third quarter. Shortly after, Ringhouse drained a 3-pointer from the left baseline and Kaneland led 26-25.