Kaneland tops Sycamore behind Vaca's 25
Dylan Vaca picked a good time for a breakout game with rival Sycamore visiting Friday night in a Northern Illinois Big XII East matchup.
The Kaneland guard wasn't happy with the start to his senior season. He wanted to get his shot to start falling a little more consistently, and he did that and then some against the Spartans.
Vaca scored 17 of his game-high 25 points in the first half, staking the Knights to a 6-point halftime lead that they extended in the second half on their way to a 58-45 victory.
"I came out tonight trying to be more aggressive," Vaca said. "I think this season I've not been as aggressive as I should be. I wanted to help my team tonight more than I have this season. To get it going this game against our rival is really good."
Kaneland (5-1, 2-0) came out slow, turning the ball over 7 times in the first quarter and 13 times in the first half. The Knights trailed 14-10 early in the second after a breakaway dunk by Spartans big man Brian Huber.
Vaca, whose 3-pointer ended the first quarter, scored the next 10 points for the Knights. He started with a conventional 3-point play, drove baseline and scored for a 15-14 lead, and was fouled intentionally on a fastbreak.
Vaca made both free throws, then immediately swished a corner 3 for a 5-point possession and a 20-14 lead.
"That is just a pure adrenaline play," Vaca said. "You get that intentional foul and it gets the crowd riled up and it gets you going and you get the free throws and then have the crowd behind you and hit the 3, it's pure adrenaline."
Trailing 31-25 at halftime, Sycamore (3-4, 0-2) got as close as 35-32 midway through the third quarter before Kaneland's full-court pressure led to a 7-0 surge in 30 seconds.
Jacob Gomes scored inside, Vaca followed with a steal and spin move for a bucket, and leading scorer Ryan David knocked down a 3-pointer for his only points of the game. Ethan Conroy closed the quarter with another 3, giving the Knights a 45-36 lead after three quarters.
"We knew they were going to go at us," Kaneland coach Joe Conroy said. "It took us time to adjust to their pressure. We settled in and figured out we need to set our tone and not accept their tone. Dylan was a big part of it tonight."
Mark Lilly and Mitchel Groen opened the fourth quarter with 5 quick points as the Knights built their lead to 50-36 and never let the Spartans get within single digits again.
Ethan Conroy added 12 points for the Knights, who cut their second-half turnovers to 5.
Groen gave the Knights a lift with 8 points and 8 rebounds off the bench.
"Mitchell coming off our bench was our savior," coach Conroy said. "He scrambles on the floor, he plays hard, he grinds it out, he knocks people around, he grabs the ball and that's exactly what we needed."
Ty Sulaver and Brett Bemis paced Sycamore with 10 points each.
"Tip your hat to them," Sycamore coach Andrew Stacy said. "I thought they played really well and Vaca especially did a really nice job taking the ball to the basket and knocking shots down."