Kaneland starts defense of Plano title with win

If Kaneland needed any extra motivation defending its Plano Christmas Classic title, the Knights got it when the seeds came out.

That No. 3 by their name is fuel for the fire.

"We're a lower seed than we were before which means people don't expect us to win it," senior Chaon Denlinger said. "One and two are supposed to be in the finals so we have something to prove here. We're just trying to win every game, and win by a lot. We want to pound teams we can pound."

Kaneland did just that Monday, scoring the first 11 points against Hinckley Big Rock on its way to a 66-33 victory in the first round of the 48th annual Plano tourney.

Kaneland will play No. 6 seed Princeton, a 63-50 winner over Seneca, at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the quarterfinals.

The Knights (7-2), seeded behind No. 1 Rockford Christian and No. 2 Newark, had a much easier time against Hinckley Big Rock (5-6) than an earlier 59-46 win on Dec. 14.

Kaneland, winners of four straight, led only 23-19 of the first meeting. On Monday, the Knights were up 27-9 at halftime after holding the Royals to 4-of-19 shooting from the field in the first half.

Denlinger got the offense going with a pair of 3-pointers in the opening quarter. The defense forced 10 first-half turnovers and held the Royals to 25 percent shooting for the game.

"We talked about having a lot of defensive intensity," said Kaneland coach Brian Johnson, who turned to a full-court press much of the game. "We did a nice job of getting down the floor and having our defense create points."

Hinckley Big Rock, which starts four sophomores, also had no answer for the Knights on the boards, losing the rebounding battle 44-24. Matt Spitzzeri came off the bench to grab a game-high 8, while Trevor Heinle, Denlinger, Daniel Helm and Tyler Callaghan all had at least 5 boards.

While Denlinger scored 15 points and Kaneland's 8-man rotation built a commanding 47-18 lead through three quarters, the Knights also got good play by those deeper on their bench in the fourth quarter.

Junior Bryan VanBogaert led that charge, scoring 8 points in the fourth quarter. Andrew O'Herron added four. Earlier reserves into the game Spitzzeri scored 10 points and Kory Harner 8.

"It's nice to see the other guys do well too," Denlinger said. "We kept putting it on them. They didn't close the gap very much so that was nice to see. We need everyone to be ready to go and we did that pretty well."

Sophomore Bernie Conley scored 15 points to lead the Royals. Their coach Bill Sambrookes, who led the 1973 Kaneland team to the Class A state championship game, said he expected more.

"I fully expected to be able to play with them and win the game," Sambrookes said. "I was not expecting to not score for the fist six minutes of the first quarter. That was a shock. I think we were nervous when the game began."

"We have to come ready to play. We can't continue to get behind by 10 points right off the bat. Teams like this show what happens when we aren't fundamentally sound."