PLANO — Slowing down standout guard Mason Accidentale was the primary objective for the Rochelle Hub varsity basketball team during Friday’s Interstate 8 Conference matchup against the Plano Reapers.

With several seniors stepping up in the man-to-man defense, Rochelle limited Accidentale to only 14 points on Friday. On the other end of the floor, Hub senior Noah Brown was a marksman from 3-point range, hitting six triples including four in the first half as Rochelle cruised over the Reapers for a 78-60 victory.

“We knew where Mason was whenever he was on the floor,” head coach Tim Thompson said. “He had 11 points in the first half but I thought he had to work for a lot of those shots. We didn’t make things easy for him and we have a lot of length at the guard positions, which we haven’t had in several years. We switched on him throughout the game and I thought Ryan [Simmons] made it tough on him with his length.”

Senior Ryan Simmons opened the scoring for the Hubs with a 3-pointer early in the first quarter before Brown canned three triples to fuel the Rochelle offense. The Hubs (13-9, 7-2 Interstate 8) continued knocking down 3-pointers in the second quarter, where sophomore Eli Luxton found the net from the corner and senior forward Zach Sanford threw up a long-range triple that splashed through the hoop. Senior forwards Tanner Lager and Cooper Hasz each hit low-post basket for the Hubs, who led 34-29 at halftime.

“Noah’s a hard-nosed player and his defense gets a lot better when his offense gets going,” head coach Tim Thompson said. “I knew when he was at the sophomore level that Noah was going to be a very good varsity basketball player. When Noah sets his feet, he doesn’t miss many shots and he’s shooting with a lot of confidence right now. His release looks great and he’s starting to play within himself. He’s not trying to do too much and he’s using his 3-point shooting ability to create more driving opportunities at the rim.”

Rochelle began pulling away from the Reapers in the third quarter, where Hasz bullied Plano’s interior defenders for three close-range shots and Simmons found his rhythm with a pair of mid-range jumpers and an elbow triple for seven of his 12 points in the game. Brown and senior Adam Kemp each made triples in the third quarter for the Hubs, who built a double-digit advantage at 58-47 entering the fourth quarter.

“Noah shot the ball really well in the first half and I thought Plano made some tough shots,” Thompson said. “We tightened our defense up during the second half and we stopped helping too much when they were driving into the lane and dumping the ball off for easy buckets. We shared the ball much better in the second half and when we had Ryan take the ball in the middle, we were really able to exploit them.”

Brown and Kemp opened the fourth quarter with a pair of layups on aggressive drives through the lane. With the victory all but sealed, Rochelle looked for Sanford to ice the win, with the 6-foot-5 forward finishing a screen-and-roll before sinking his second 3-pointer of the evening to finish with a season-high 11 points. Junior forward Raul Aguirre also converted two post-up opportunities for four of his eight points on Friday. Hasz finished with nine points, while Kemp recorded seven points and Luxton added five points.