Kaneland locks down defensively, pulls away from L-P for 20th win in a row

The Kaneland boys basketball team found itself in an unusual position Friday.

The Knights trailed La Salle-Peru by two points after the first quarter.

But Kaneland responded well.

The Knights locked down on defense over the final three quarters and pulled away for a 72-32 victory in an Interstate 8 Conference game.

“We usually don’t give up a lot of points in the first quarter, but we were able to fight through that,” Kaneland junior guard Marshawn Cocroft said. “Through the rest of the three quarters, we were able to turn up our defense, turn them over and just push the ball. Even when guys came off the bench, they were able to keep the intensity up. Overall, we played really well.”

It was the 20th win in a row for the Knights as they improved to 21-1 overall and 6-0 in the conference.

“It’s great,” Cocroft said. “We haven’t lost since November. The team loves it. Every game we’re looking for that next win to keep the streak going.

“It takes a team effort (to sustain the streak). It’s not one guy. That’s the difference about this team. It takes everyone. We just practice hard every day. We take no days off. There’s no slacking so we’re ready to play when it’s game time.”

The Knights used a team effort defensively Friday after the Cavaliers drained five 3-pointers in the first quarter to take a 17-15 lead after the first eight minutes.

Kaneland held the Cavs to just 15 points the rest of the way.

“We weren’t closing out properly and that’s what led to them getting those five 3s (in the first quarter),” Cocroft said. “We had to change that up, pressure them, get our hands high. We just ran them off the 3. We started pressuring them so they didn’t have a shot at the wide open 3s. We let them take contested 2s and 3s. We were fine with that, just no wide open 3s.”

L-P had four different players knock down 3s - two by Nick Olivero and one each by Marion Persich, Mikey Hartman and Erick Sotelo - as it shot 5 of 8 from behind the arc in the first quarter.

But after that the Cavs did not make another 3 until Persich hit one early in the fourth quarter with the clock running and Kaneland reserves in the game. L-P was 1 of 11 from 3-point range after the first quarter.

“I thought the first quarter we played extremely well,” L-P coach John Senica said. “We hit shots. We came out tough with our defense. We were actually rebounding. After that, (Kaneland coach) Ernie (Colombe) had them tighten the screws (defensively) and we had no answer for it. They really played tougher defense. They outrebounded us. They were getting to the rim. They have a lot of athletes and are a very good ball club.”

The Knights began to turn their defense into offense in the second quarter as they forced seven turnovers in the period and converted them into 11 points as Kaneland outscored L-P 25-8.

“We run motion a lot so when the ball is moving and our guys are moving and we’re setting screens, we’re pretty tough because we have guys inside and our guards are quick and can get into the paint,” Colombe said. “In the beginning, I thought we were standing too much. We got the ball into the post, which is what we wanted to do, and then we stood. They were playing hard and they contested shots. We just needed to get moving.”

Cocroft had a dominant stretch late in the quarter to help Kaneland extend a six-point lead to 15 by halftime.

He scored five times in six possessions - two drives to the basket, a cut through the lane, a transition bucket and a pair of free throws - and assisted on the sixth as he found Evan Frieders for a bucket.

“We expect that out of him,” Colombe said. “He’s been doing that all year. He’s one of our leaders.”

Kaneland led 40-25 at halftime and 58-27 after three quarters.

Freddy Hassan led the Knights with a game-high 17 points, while Cocroft finished with 13 points. Olivero had eight points for L-P (10-14, 4-2), while Hartman, Sotelo and Persich had seven each.