Kaneland rallies past Wheaton Academy in 4th quarter for regional title

AURORA – Trailing most of the game Friday, Kaneland rallied in the fourth quarter to finally get past Wheaton Academy and win the Class 3A IMSA Regional Championship, 66-56, for its recording-setting 30th win.

Trailing 47-46 at the start of the final frame, the Knights, a top seed in the Rochelle Sectional, went on a 12-3 run in the first part of the quarter to take control of the game.

Kaneland (30-1) will play seventh-seed Rockford Boylan Catholic in the second sectional semifinal on Wednesday.

The two squads traded baskets and free throw throws for a 50-49 Warrior advantage with 6:15 left to play. An Isaiah Gipson lay-up returned the lead to Kaneland. Teammate Marshwan Cocroft (17 points) followed with an old-fashioned three-point play, converting a free throw after getting fouled on a baseline layup. The junior scored eight of his 14 points in the period.

“Isaiah picked a great night to have his best game,” Kaneland coach Ernie Colombe said. “He played with a lot of energy and was able to get to the basket.”

A Freddy Hassan put back at the 3:47 mark put Kaneland up 58-50. The senior, who scored a game-high 23 points was confident his team would pull out a win.

“Everyone was concerned when we were down by five at the half, but I knew we could definitely come back and win the game,” Hassan said.

A pull-up jumper by Wheaton Academy’s Sam Thomas with 2:26 left to play cut the Knights’ lead to six, but the Warriors would not get any closer.

“We just needed to keep grinding it out and get a couple of stops,” said Colombe about the comeback. “Our defense led to some offense and then we got them into some foul trouble.”

“They came out and made some big plays. We were dealing with foul trouble, a couple of layups rimmed out,” said Wheaton Academy coach Daniel Smith. “We just didn’t make the plays we needed to make to extend the lead and before you know it, it’s a tie ball game”

Kaneland’s comeback started in the last half of the third quarter. A Tyler Smith bucket with 3:10 left in the period gave Wheaton Academy (21-9) its biggest lead of the contest, 47-38. Smith led the Warriors’ scoring with 19 points. Again, sparked by Gipson, the Knights closed out the quarter on an 8-0 run

The Warriors’ accurate first-half perimeter shooting put the squad up 39-34 at half-time. Wheaton Academy canned eight of 10 three-pointers in the first two quarters.

“They are a good shooting team but we didn’t expect eight out of ten so hats off to them,” Colombe said.

“We wanted to come out and use our length to impose our will early,” Smith said. “It helps when you hit shots.”

Wheaton Academy’s long-range offense cooled off in the third quarter. The Warriors did not sink a 3-pointer for the rest of the game.

“They made some defensive adjustments and made it more difficult for us,” said Smith. “We had some good looks, they just didn’t drop.”

Hayden Schroeder scored 10 points for Wheaton Academy.

“We’re going to enjoy the win tonight and then go out and extend it,” Colombe said about his squad’s 30th victory of the season.