Boys Basketball: Rochelle win streak snapped at Kaneland

Short-handed Hubs fight hard, fall 72-65 to Knights

Russell Hodges
Posted 1/23/20

A short-handed Rochelle boys basketball team did everything it could to battle back against Kaneland when the Hubs faced the Knights on the road Friday evening.

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Boys Basketball: Rochelle win streak snapped at Kaneland

Short-handed Hubs fight hard, fall 72-65 to Knights

Posted

MAPLE PARK — A short-handed Rochelle boys basketball team did everything it could to battle back against Kaneland when the Hubs faced the Knights on the road Friday evening.

With illnesses keeping players out of the lineup, Rochelle stuck to a six-man rotation throughout the game. While Kaneland surged ahead in the second quarter, the Hubs fought to bring the Knights within five points midway through the fourth quarter. But Kaneland’s size and athleticism was too much, as the Knights held on to win 72-65 and drop Rochelle to 11-10.

“We’re not a very good box-out team and I think we need to be better at that,” head coach Tim Thompson said. “We don’t match up with them size-wise… I thought Zach [Sanford] battled well down there, but physical teams like Kaneland give us problems. We really have to be perfect offensively if we’re unable to get out of defensive possessions.”

Kaneland’s Jamari Meeks bounced back from a poor shooting performance in Rochelle’s first game against the Knights this season, sinking three first-half triples including two in the first quarter. Seth Gould and Garrett Burdin spearheaded the charge early for the Hubs, scoring nine of the team’s first 19 points as Rochelle led 19-16 entering the second quarter.

The Knights opened the second quarter on an 8-0 run, pushing the ball in transition as much as possible and using their size and length to finish around the rim. Kaneland’s fast-paced play too some wind out of the Rochelle sails, as the Hubs fell behind 33-24 despite burning two timeouts in the quarter. Kaneland center Ethan Feiza and forward Bryce Ebert punished Rochelle on the boards, giving the Knights numerous second and third-chance points.

“We had a lot of guys who were sick and just getting their legs back,” Thompson said. “We didn’t want to put them out there when they haven’t done much running recently. We had a shorter rotation which meant we had to play a little differently than we normally do. They took advantage of our 2-3 zone, but the effort was there from our kids.”

The Knights took a 38-30 lead into the second half, where Rochelle managed to keep the deficit within single digits entering the fourth quarter. While the Hubs weren’t able to create space on the perimeter, seniors Austin Brown and Landan Martin found ways to score inside against bigger and longer defenders. Martin finished with 19 points in the game, while Brown added 18. The two guards totaled 11 of Rochelle’s 16 third-quarter points.

“I thought we got into the lane more often than we did in our first game against them,” Thompson said. “They wanted to guard the perimeter because they knew we’ve been shooting a lot more 3-point shots… I give my kids a lot of credit. I know Landan was feeling horrible today, but he made some key shots late in the game.”

The Hubs started the fourth quarter on an 8-4 to make it a 58-53 game with roughly five minutes remaining. Kaneland burned two timeouts during the brief surge, and even though the Knights went cold from the field down the stretch, their ability to rebound on offense prevented Rochelle from moving the ball quickly and scoring on the other end. Brett David led the Knights with 18 points and Meeks finished with 17 points.