1997-98 KANELAND BOYS
VARSITY BASKETBALL

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Review the 1996-97 Kaneland Boys Basketball Season

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Varsity Basketball

The Byron Tournament

Kaneland 55 Rockford Lutheran 74

Kaneland played it's first basketball game of the year against the Rockford Lutheran Crusaders in the Byron Tournament, short seven players. All on the football team that was competing for the state championship. So instead two freshman and three sophomores took the floor to help the Knights.

Seniors Paul Schuppner, Jason Self and Reed Overhaug plus juniors Ken Lippold and Scott Peterson started for the Knights. They had help from sophomores Allen Griffen, Josh Hill and Mike Balensiefen, plus freshman Wayne Shaw and Shawn Fuller.

"We played some kids that are not ready to play at this level yet," commented coach John Rutter. " In the long run its going to turn out to be in our favor, however."

The Crusaders only held a 38-33 lead at half time and Kaneland tied the score at 42 in the third quarter. But Rockford Lutheran put on a 10-0 run and the Knights were not about to come back as the Crusaders took home a 74-55 win.

Paul Schuppner and Read Overhaug lead the Knights with 16 points each. Ken Lippold added 8 and Scott Peterson chipped in 6.

Kaneland 45 Dakota 60

Kaneland fell behind early against Dakota, trailing 13-7 by end of the first quarter in the second round of the Byron Tournament. Then they slipped further behind 33-16 by halftime.

In the second half, with adjustments made by coach John Rutter, the Knights out scored their opponent 29-27, but were not able to make up the Dakota 17-point first-half lead.

Scott Peterson led the Knights scoring with 12 points. Jason Self, Reed Overhaug, and sophomore Mike Balensiefen each chipped in with nine. Balensiefen was 7 for 8 from the line.

Kaneland 0 Genoa 2

For the first time ever the Kaneland Basketball team forfeited a game. All but three players went down to Normal to cheer on their fellow schoolmates instead of being in Byron to play Genoa in the Byron Tournament. Those fellow teammates they went to watch were the Kaneland football team, which competed a fantastic season 14-0 and beating Harrisburg 31-7 for the class 3A state football championship for the first time in school history

It was also the first time in school history that the basketball team didn't have a high scorer.

Kaneland 50 Sycamore 60

Kaneland finally had all but one of their seven football players back and playing on the team. Seniors Josh Miller and Brad Thill, plus juniors Eric Delaney, Kyle Schrader, Shaun Wenz, and Colin Baumgartner. Only P.J. Fleck remained out of action with a ankle injury.

But the football players showed some rust. That along with some poor free throw shooting kept them from overtaking a hard nose Sycamore team, ultimately losing 60-50. The Spartans came into the game with a 2-2 record hit 11 of 16 free throws while the Knights shoot a putrid 2-10 from the charity stripe.

"We played really well - better than I expected - and I was pleased, overall, with the effort," said coach John Rutter. "But free throws were the difference."

The Knights dug a hole trailing 18-8 after one quarter of play. They worked hard to cut the deficit to 26-19 halftime lead, but seven turnovers kept them from taking the lead.

Paced by Reed Overhaug, the Knights went on a 10-4 run to start the second half cutting the lead to 30-29. But that was as close as the Knights could get as rough play, turnovers, and poor free throw shooting kept them from gaining the lead.

Overhaug and Brad Thill led Kaneland with 18 points each. The next closest Knight had five points. Kaneland remained winless at 4-0.

In another game of interest was Yorkville upsetting 6th ranked Marengo 58-55. The win followed another Foxes win the night before against Morris 61-55. The pair of wins moved the Foxes to 4-1 and Marengo dropped to 5-1.

Kaneland 51 Westmont 49

Just 4 hours prior the game P.J. Fleck got clearance from his doctor to play basketball. And not too soon for coach John Rutter, as Fleck hit a off balance leaner in the last 3 seconds of the game to give Kaneland it's first basketball win of the season over winless Westmont 51-49.

"I didn't really have the open shot," said fleck. "I had to kind of force it and create it because there wasn't much time."

Up to that point the game was close, with Kanland leading by 2 points after each quarter except the first.

But Kaneland is far from being a smooth basketball team after 7 of the 12 players have had only a week of practice because of football. "Hopefully, we can get some things cleared up," said Rutter. "We certainly are struggling to put the ball in the hole even at the free-throw line."

All scoring came from just 6 players. Paul Schuppner 14, Fleck 10, Reed Overhaug 9, Brad Thill 8, and Eric Delaney and Kyle Schrader 5 each.

Kaneland 61 Harvard 44

It was only the second time this season all 12 players were available and it resulted in Kaneland's second win as well as they beat visiting Harvard 61-44.

The Knights, who dropped their first four games, one by forfeit, while the football team went after the state championship, were lead by Paul Schuppner's 19 points. P.J. Fleck scored 12 more.

"We played real good defense tonight," stated coach John Rutter. " It was a great team effort. Schuppner played well. He picked us up in the first quarter."

The Knights outscored Harvard 23-13 in the final period to break open a tight game. Schuppner collected eight of his points in the fourth period.

Rutter added, "We have to start making the easy shots if we're going to be competitive against such conference foes as Sycamore and Yorkville."

Kaneland 71 Aurora Christian 52

The Knights continued their trend to score more points in each advancing game by beating Aurora Christian by 19 points 71-52. In doing so the Knights are 0-4 without all 12 players and 3-0 will all players present.

It wasn't as easy as the final score indicated, however. Kaneland lead 21-8, just one second shy of the second quarter, when AC went on a 18-2 scoring run to lead 26-23. The Knights with P.J. Fleck on the bench because of foul trouble then worked their way to 35-29 half time lead.

By the end of the third quarter it was anybody's game as the Knights held a slim 1 point lead. But with the game on the line the Knights outscored ACC 24-6 in the final quarter to take home the victory.

"We talked about the fourth quarter being our quarter," Coach John Rutter said. "It was tonight."

The Knights had 6 players with 7 or more points. Fleck lead the Knights with 20, Reed Overhaug had 12, Eric Delaney 11, X-ACC player Brad Thill 9, Paul Schuppner 8 and Kyle Schrader 7.

Kaneland 61 Yorkville 59

Kaneland vs Yorkville - a test of two good basketball teams. How good is Kaneland? Long time rival Yorkville who came in off a high of beating number 3 rated Marengo, was a measuring stick. And in the end the Knights prevailed, but just barely (typical of recent Knight/Foxes match-ups) 61-59.

In the first half the Knights porous defense allowed the speedy foxes to jump off to a quick 31-23 lead with just 2 minutes left before intermission. But a run of 7 unanswered points pulled the Knights to within one by half time 31-30.

In the second half the Knights went to another level of play. Reed Overhaug hit a 3 pointer to start the half giving the Knights their first lead of the game. The Knights went on to only allow the Foxes to score 6 points in the quarter while netting 15 of their own.

P.J. Fleck opened the final quarter with a 3 pointer giving the Knights the biggest lead of the game 48-37. However, Kaneland dropped back to their earlier lackluster defensive style and with 4:30 left in the game the Foxes had caught up at 48-48.

From there Eric Delaney hit a 3, Yorkville hit a 3, Kyle Schrader hit a 3, Yorkville hit a pair of 2's, Schrader hit another 3 and Fleck added 2 more. With 1 minute to play Kaneland led 59-55. From there, the Foxes were never really close as the Knights won their fourth straight game.

For the second game in a row Kaneland had 6 players with 6 or more points. Fleck lead the game scoring 17, Paul Schuppner had 13 hard fought points, Overhaug hit 10, Brad Thill 8, Delaney 7, and Schrader with his pair of 4th quarter 3's closed with 6 points.

In other action Sycamore beat Geneva 61-38.

The Plano Christmas Classic

This is the 34th annual Plano Classic with Spring Valley Hall as the favorite.

Kaneland 63 Hinckley Big Rock 70

It was not a pretty night as the Kaneland Knights played their worst game in recent memory as they got outplayed and upset by a sharp shooting Hinckley Big Rock team 70-63.

It was clear early that Kaneland did not come to play on the opening night of the Plano Christmas Classic as they fell behind quickly 7-0, then 17-4, and trailed 19-7 by end of the first quarter.

The Knights continued to play lackluster defense into the second quarter falling further behind, 26-7. The offense was sputtering too, as outside shots weren't dropping and the few times the ball did go inside - the Royals zone defense would end up with it.

Reed Overhaug hit three 3's in a row to bring the game back to respectability at 26-16, but that was as close as Kaneland could get as they trailed 34-23 at the half. Of the 23 points the Knights scored, Paul Schuppner and Reed overhaug had all but one of them with 11 each. This was a sharp contrast to the last two games when 6 players had 6 or more points.

In the second half the Knights could get no closer than eight points until the last few seconds when coach John Rutter would not quit, putting in subs on defense to foul and returning the starters to play on offense. The strategy worked to some degree as the Knights got within 5 points with 4.7 seconds left. But they had dug a hole to deep to recover from.

P.J. Fleck ended up with 21 points (20 in the second half), Schuppner added 17 and Overhaug 16.

Overhaug summed up the game best, " We just didn't come to play at all."

Even thought the loss was only their first in the last five games, the way the team played, left this the low point of the season. It will be interesting to see how the Knights respond to such a discouraging loss.

Round One
Game 1: Mendota 67, Newark 55
Game 2: Earlville 75, Ottawa Marquette 49
Game 3: Byron 73, Serena 70
Game 4: Yorkville 62, Somonauk 52
Game 5: Coal City 75, Sandwich 53
Game 6: Hinckley-Big Rock 70, Kaneland 63
Game 7: Plano 60, Indian Creek 51
Game 8: Hall 88, LaMoille 42

Kaneland 69 Sandwich 57

The Knights recovered from last nights beating by getting by a struggling Sandwich team 69-57. The win leveled the Knights record at 5 and 5 and 1 and 1 in the conference.

The Knights managed to take a first quarter lead at 15-10, but were not able to stretch it out and at half when they lead by only four, 26-22. Sandwich continued to play tough in the third quarter as they still trailed by only four after three.

However, the Knights finally throw it into a higher gear in the fourth quarter outscoring the Indians 29-21 for the victory.

Paul Schuppner lead the Knights with 17. Fellow seniors Reed Overhaug and Brad Thill chipped in 16 and 13 respectively. Reed had four 3's for the Knights only three pointers. Sandwich junior Seth Hill had 34 points for the Indians. He was 10 for 10 from the charity stripe.

Round Two
Marquette 77 Newark 48
Serena 65 Somonauk 39
Kaneland 69 Sandwich 57
Indian Crk 73 La Moille 66
Mendota 66 Earlville 61
Yorkville 77 Byron 63
Coal City 52 Hinckley 29
Hall 87 Plano 68

Kaneland 84 Indian Creek 62

The Kaneland Knights basketball team pushed their record over .500, (6-5) for the first time this year smashing Indian Creek by 22 points. With the win the Knights moved to the finals of the consolation round of the Plano Christmas Classic against a tough Serena team.

Kaneland as normal struggled early against the much shorter Timberwolves. But by the end of the first half the Knights had managed to close strong and had a modest 41-30 lead.

But the Knights came out strong to start the second half and held the Wolves scoreless for the first four and a half minutes building their lead to 20, 50-30. By the end of the third quarter Kaneland had the game in hand, leading 59-40.

The Wolves did manage to close within 12 points (66-54) in the final quarter but Knights were just to much inside as Big Brad Thill had a field day scoring 24 points, eventually winning 84-62.

"It was a good effort by everybody," said coach John Rutter. "The Kids from the bench are coming in and stepping it up. That's what we 're looking for."

P.J. Fleck added 21 points, Paul Schuppner had 13, Reed Overhaug 10, and Shaun Wenz 5.

Round Three
Serena 78, Marquette 65
Kaneland 84, Indian Creek 62
Byron 63, Earlville 56
Hinckley-Big Rock 53, Plano 52
Mendota 69, Yorkville 63
Hall 90, Coal City 64

Kaneland 74 Serena 67

The Kaneland Knights left their defense home Saturday afternoon and relied on their pure speed and talent to gain an ugly win over Serena 74-67. As a result the Knights won the Consolation Championship and ended the Plano Classic Tournament at 3-1.

The win marked the half way mark of the regular season and moved the Knights to 7-5, (7-1 with all 12 players present). However, the Basketball Knights are still searching for the spark that shined so bright just one month earlier for the football team.

In a run and gun game the Knights built a five point advantage at halftime 39-34. However, lack of transition defense was the Achilles' heel for the Knights in the first half, as Serena scored nearly half their points on transition.

In the second half the Knights full court defense improved, but good ball movement by Serena kept the Knights off-balance all night. Even though the game was never really in doubt, Kaneland could never get and keep double digit leads, eventually winning by seven.

"We were a little disappointed losing in the first round," said Paul Schuppner. "But we just had to make the best of it."

Schuppner was the catalyst Saturday, scoring a team-high 20 points and grabbing 12 rebounds.

"He's been probably our most valuable up to now," said coach Rutter. "He's stepped it up and done a nice job. He's probably playing the best basketball of his high school career right now."

In addition to Schuppner P.J. Fleck (16), Reed Overhaug (12), and Eric Delaney (11) also hit double digits for Kaneland.

P.J. Fleck was named to the All-Plano Classic Tournament team.

Round Four
Consolation Championship: Kaneland 74, Serena 67
5th Place: Byron 66, Hinckley-Big Rock 54
3rd Place: Yorkville 58, Coal City 45
Championship game: Spring Valley Hall 76, Mendota 53

Kaneland 45 Riverside-Brookfield 42

The Knights took on a good Riverside-Brookfield team, a team that had lost only one game prior to the Knights visit and when the night ended the Bulldogs were 10-2. The Knights meanwhile had improved their record to an impressive 8-1 over their last 9 games.

But the 45-42 win over R-B was not a pretty one. Even with the win over a quality team the Knights continue to struggle, indicating this team if it can come together may very well be a major force as the playoffs get closer.

It was a nip-and-tuck game all night with neither team being able to grab a bigger lead than 5 points. Kaneland trailed by 5 starting the forth quarter, but the Knights never say die attitude pulled out yet another close game.

There were only 15 fouls called between the teams for the game.

In what is becoming a Kaneland trademark the Knights again showed balance scoring, as Paul Schuppner and Kyle Schrader had 10 points each, P.J. Fleck had 9 and Eric Delaney 8.

Kaneland 64 Geneva 60

It's not often a team can play well for only the last 6 minutes of a game and come up with a win. But Knights did exactly that against Geneva outscoring the Vikings 29-14 in the last quarter and 18-6 in the last 4-plus minutes, to win 64-60.

With the Knights trailing by 13 points in the fourth quarter, they decided they weren't going to roll over and play dead. With a team of P.J. Fleck, Kyle Schrader, Reed Overhaug, Eric Delaney and Paul Schuppner the Knights outscored Geneva by 17 points in the last 6 minutes. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Schupper (16 points) and Overhaug (12 points) closed the gap to 55-54 with 3:42 to play and there is was all down hill for the Vikings.

And why did it take so long for the Knights to turn it around? " I felt the first three quarters Geneva took us out of the things we wanted to do," said coach John Rutter. "(In the fourth quarter) we changed it up a little bit. Trap-type things, which picked up the tempo a little bit on the offensive end."

"I don't think there was a doubt in anyone's mind that we couldn't come back and win," said Overhaug .

"It wasn't pretty, but we got the job done," said Fleck, who was held to ten points for the night.

The Knights continued their balanced scoring attack as Eric Delaney had 9 points and Kyle Schrader added 8 more to go with Fleck's, Overhaug's and Schuppner's double figures.

In other interesting developments, Morris (coming to Kaneland 1/16) surprised Sycamore 27-25 to open the door of opportunity for the Knights to win a conference title making Sycamore 3-1 and the Knights 2-1 in conference. The Spartans visit Kaneland Friday, 1/23. Also Burlington Central (Knights at Burlington 1/20) upset number 13 ranked Marengo (coming to Kaneland 1/31) 64-49. It was only Marengo's second lost of the year. The other was to Yorkville in week two. Number one ranked Hall beat Streamer to stay undefeated.

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