Lenschow leads Burlington Central past Kaneland
Jake Lenschow hardly seems to crack a smile, much less show any emotion on the basketball court.
Lenschow, a 6-foot-4 Burlington Central senior, isn't typically phased by a good or bad play. Given his varsity experience for three seasons, he "kind of knows what it's like."
Lenschow let his play do the talking Saturday, powering the Rockets past Kaneland 52-45 in the Plano Christmas Classic semifinal.
"I realize if you get angry or upset, it doesn't really help you personally," Lenschow said. "I just try to keep the same mindset and not get down on my self on misses or missed rotations or anything like that."
Lenschow led the way for the Rockets with 17 points, 10 rebounds and four assists. The Rockets (9-3), who won the tournament title two years ago and are seeded second, return to Monday's championship game against No. 1 seed Peoria Notre Dame at 8 p.m.
Kaneland (7-3), in the semifinals of the Plano Christmas Classic for the first time since 2012, will face King in the third place game at 6:30 p.m.
Rockets senior forward Josh Hudgens, a teammate of Lenschow's for three seasons, sees the overall effect of how Lenschow's calm demeanor can rub off on the team.
"If they just see us working as hard as we can, just not getting affected by a bad play or something, it's going to lead them to be better themselves," said Hudgens, who had 14 points and seven rebounds himself.
Burlington Central features quite a different roster than the championship team from two years ago. Graduated are headliners like Zach Schutta and Patrick Mayfield.
One constant remains, however - Burlington Central's brand of basketball.
"We compete every night, no matter who it is," Lenschow said. "We don't really overthink who it is, but we know we got to go in and battle each and every night. We've got to lock down our defense and our offense will come. We're more of a spread out team this year offensively, so anyone can get hot."
The Rockets clamped down defensively to close out Saturday's matchup. After Kaneland guard Will Cushman's layup pulled the Knights within 45-43 with 1:29 left, Burlington Central guard Eddie Wells responded with a pair of free throws. Lenschow added a layup, and Knights senior Bryce Ebert's layup couldn't quite close the gap.
Lenschow split free throws before Gavin Sarvis knocked in a layup to close it out for the Rockets.
Kaneland led 25-23 at the half, but was hurt by a 34-18 disadvantage on the boards.
"Two things stood out: [Burlington] really rebounded well; they hurt us on the boards," Kaneland coach Ernie Colombe said.
"We had been rebounding really well. That's a credit to them ... the other thing is we took tough shots. That's a credit to [Burlington], honestly. There were sometimes where I felt like we were standing a little bit, but really, their defense ... I thought their length bothered us a little bit."
Brett David led the Knights with 16 points and five rebounds, while Bryce Ebert had 12 points. Will Cushman had nine points.
"He's stepping up; he's learning how to lead and he's becoming a leader," Colombe said of David. "We're starting to see that on the court. Coming into this as an outsider so-to-speak, I kind of got the vibe that he was a shooter. Then, when we're with him every day, he's playing defense, he's getting rebounds, he's getting loose balls ... he's really become an all-around player and it's been nice to see."