YORKVILLE – Senior Rhett Espe has been encouraged by Kaneland boys basketball coach Joe Conroy to take more shots.
When Espe did Friday, he nearly sparked a huge comeback at Yorkville before the Foxes prevailed, 51-41, in the Northern Illinois Big 12 East rivalry.
“[Conroy] always yells at me to shoot more, but today I kind of got hot. It brought the team back, got us some energy, but it just wasn’t enough,” said Espe, who scored a game-high 16 points, with 14 points and two 3-pointers in the second half. “We came back, and then we just didn’t execute down the stretch. We had a few bad turnovers, and they converted.”
Kaneland (7-14, 1-5) trailed, 34-23, in the third quarter but used six unanswered points by Espe to close to 40-39 with 6:07 left. Yorkville (12-7, 6-2) responded with seven straight points over its next four possessions and led by at least six the rest of the way.
“We didn’t match their level of intensity, and I think the referees let us play tonight, and we didn’t catch on to that until the second half,” Conroy said. “We chipped away, and they made great plays down the stretch.”
Senior Blake Feiza had nine points, and junior reserve Luke Brost contributed seven. In the first half, Espe made a shot and had four of his five assists. He began the second-half comeback with back-to-back 3s.
“Sometimes [I take 3s], if I’m open. They just gave it to me,” Espe said. “[Yorkville’s] Christian Payne did a good job of face-guarding me most of the game, but when I could get open, I made the most of it, I guess.”
Yorkville has won seven straight. In the teams’ first meeting Dec. 1, the Foxes won, 46-43, after Kaneland closed to 42-40 in the final seconds.
On Friday, senior reserve Logan Habada led the Foxes by 14 points and four 3s over the first three quarters. They also collected 13 steals, including back-to-back ones by sophomore starter Jake Polowy during the fourth-quarter run.
“They had a lot of steals. Their pressure really bothered us,” Conroy said. “We knew they were going to pressure us. We’ve got to find a way to put in some pressure release for our guards, and I didn’t do a good job of getting us ready for that.”