Boys Basketball: Rochelle stalled by sharpshooting Sycamore

20-2 run propels Spartans over Hubs 59-48

Russell Hodges
Posted 12/9/18

Saturday was the second matchup between the Rochelle varsity boys basketball team and Sycamore this season. While the Hubs walked away victorious in their first encounter with the Spartans, they weren’t so lucky this past weekend.

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Boys Basketball: Rochelle stalled by sharpshooting Sycamore

20-2 run propels Spartans over Hubs 59-48

Posted

SYCAMORE — Saturday was the second matchup between the Rochelle varsity boys basketball team and Sycamore this season. While the Hubs walked away victorious in their first encounter with the Spartans, they weren’t so lucky this past weekend.

Behind 23 points from Grant McConkey and 18 points from Lucas Overhaug, Sycamore shot the ball much better from the field as Rochelle’s offensive woes continued. Despite four players entering double figures, the Hubs couldn’t overcome the Spartans on the road, falling 59-48 to drop to 3-5 on the season.

“Our zone got to them during our first game and they weren’t able to make any 3-point shots,” head coach Tim Thompson said. “They made a couple of free-throw line jumpers on Saturday to pack our zone in tighter. McConkey and Overhaug shot the ball really well… Sometimes teams shoot the ball well when you’re playing zone defense, and Sycamore shot the ball well.”

Sycamore’s double teams made scoring difficult for Rochelle senior Johnny Beck, who was limited to 10 points in the game after recording 22 points and 15 rebounds when Rochelle topped the Spartans during the Strombom Thanksgiving Championships on Nov. 23. The Hubs began Saturday’s game on a 16-8 run before Sycamore responded with a 20-2 run of its own.

“I don’t think they were doing anything differently,” Thompson said. “They were sending double teams from random areas but I still thought Johnny had a lot of clean looks. He just didn’t shoot the ball well and he’ll admit that… It happens, and even though we rely on him a lot, we know that he can’t be perfect.”

Sycamore led 28-25 at halftime, and the Spartans continued building their lead up throughout the second half. Senior Kaleb Ackland was the driving force on offense for Rochelle, scoring a team-high 13 points while making three 3-point shots. Junior Seth Gould finished with 12 points while junior Landan Martin added 11 points.

“We’ve seen how well Kaleb can shoot the 3-point ball but he hasn’t taken that many shots,” Thompson said. “He’s passed up shots to try and be a good teammate by getting the ball inside and getting the ball reversed. But he had more open looks against Sycamore and he took them and knocked them down.”

The Spartans upped their lead to 44-39 after three quarters and sealed the game by outscoring Rochelle 15-9 in the fourth quarter. The Hubs will try and rebounds when they host Ottawa at RTHS on Friday at 7 p.m.

“I still don’t think we’re making the extra passes to get good looks on offense,” Thompson said. “We haven’t gotten a tremendous number of offensive rebounds but we’ve been playing some really tough teams. Dixon was a really good team and we’re playing Ottawa on Friday who’s a really good team.”