advertisement

Kaneland stuns Sycamore with late rally

Mark Lilly ended the game the same way he took the third quarter to its conclusion: with the final field goal.

The first bucket brought the Kaneland boys basketball team to within striking distance of Sycamore.

But the second field goal was far more important.

Lilly drained a 13-foot jumper from the right side to give Kaneland its first lead of the Northern Illinois Big XII East game with 17 seconds to play.

Ryan David then stole the Spartans' ensuing inbounds pass and converted 2 free throws to give Kaneland a 64-61 lead Thursday night in Maple Park.

When Sycamore missed a 3-pointer with a second to play, Kaneland had come back from two 20-point third-quarter deficits to move over .500 for the first time since the season-opener.

The Knights are 10-9, 5-3.

"We got lucky tonight," Kaneland coach Brian Johnson said. "Sycamore came ready to play with a lot of energy. I give them the credit for what they did to us for the first three quarters."

Lilly forced the first tie of the game since it was 2-2 with an inside score with 1:41 to play.

It came moments after the Knights' Conor Fedderly had a 3-point play to bring Kaneland within 58-56.

Fedderly then had yet another steal to set up the final Lilly score.

"I messed up the (designed) play, so I figured I better make something happen," said Lilly, who scored all 11 of his point after halftime.

Johnson originally was looking to put David, who had 16 points for the Knights, in an isolation situation.

Sycamore (7-13, 2-7) extended its 35-22 halftime lead to 43-23 early in the third quarter when guard Jack Mizgalski hit 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions.

But what proved to be the undoing for the Spartans was the Kaneland efforts on the offensive glass.

The Knights would collect 19 offensive rebounds in the game, and Jacob Gomes' inside play as a result turned the tide.

The Knights' post scored 14 of his team-high 17 points on second-chance opportunities.

"We had to attack the glass, because we couldn't make any shots," Johnson said.

"We had to fight to get back into (the game)," Gomes said. "We emphasized (offensive rebounding) in practice so that we could get the putbacks for some easy buckets."

"Our big guy (Brian Huber) got hurt at the end of the first half," Sycamore coach Andrew Stacy said. "We didn't have much size underneath. We forced stops, but we couldn't corral any defensive rebounds."

Kaneland was 7-for-26 from the field in the opening half and didn't come within single figures until Lilly had a breakaway layup to end the third quarter.

Ty Sulaver had a game-high 21 points to lead Sycamore.

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.