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Kaneland shuts down Sycamore

After Kaneland's defense clamped down on Sycamore for a double-digit lead after one quarter, the Knights simply kept the hosts from gaining the traction needed for a comeback.

In the end, the 50-33 Northern Illinois Big 12 Conference boys basketball road win reflected the game itself. Kaneland's offense wasn't exactly artistic as the lowest point total for a win this season. However, the Knights (12-5, 6-1) limited Sycamore (11-10, 5-4) to a tally slightly above the 30 yielded in a December blowout of Chicago Hope.

"Defensively we got up and guarded people, previously trying always to get a steal was kind of an Achilles' heel for us," Kaneland coach Joe Conroy said. "We communicated much better on defense. We had guys trying to get to the glass at both ends. Offensively we worked on figuring out how to play inside first and then come back outside. I thought we exploited some things well."

One thing Kaneland capitalized on was having 6-foot-6 Sycamore regular Brett Bemis on the bench as the Jacob Gomes' thundering dunk put the Knights ahead 4-0.

That's when the Spartans' Jack Mizgalski went to work recording 7 of his game-high 14 points as the hosts rallied for a 9-9 deadlock following a Ty Sulaver bucket with 4:05 left in the opening quarter.

Kaneland's response was a 10-0 surge to bring the first quarter to a close at 19-9. After a Sycamore basket, the Knights ran off another eight straight en route to a 27-13 halftime advantage.

"Jacob's dunk got us pumped up at the start, but then the game was a lot more spread out," Kaneland's Dylan Vaca said. "Even without Bemis, they're still big and strong."

Conroy was quick to praise Ryan David's defensive play, in particular getting into passing lanes and the senior agreed defense was a key.

"I thought our defense did work well in terms of not allowing them to find open shots," David added. "We were able to force some turnovers and many of those led to easy transition baskets."

While the third quarter was Sycamore's most productive with Mizgalski's other 7 points plus 5 off the bench from Tyler Maveus, Kaneland still had a 15-14 scoring edge in order to enter the fourth quarter owning a 42-27 lead. The Knights managed to exceed a pair of 17-point gaps taking a large lead of 19 (50-31) prior to Sycamore scoring ahead of the final horn.

Vaca and David shared team-high honors with 12 apiece while Mark Lilly just missed twin figures with 9.

In contrast to having a week of practice prior to facing Sycamore, Kaneland has four games in a span of seven days starting with a Tuesday visit to Ottawa followed by showdown at home against league leading DeKalb (20-3, 9-0).

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