{"id":105942,"date":"2025-12-31T06:45:42","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T06:45:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/105942\/"},"modified":"2025-12-31T06:45:42","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T06:45:42","slug":"kaneland-rides-devastating-defensive-start-past-yorkville-christian-to-third-straight-plano-classic-title-shaw-local","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/105942\/","title":{"rendered":"Kaneland rides devastating defensive start past Yorkville Christian to third straight Plano Classic title \u2013 Shaw Local"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jalen Carter starred as a dual-threat quarterback for Kaneland<\/a> football in the fall, but he\u2019ll play defensive back collegiately at NIU.<\/p>\n

Defend, that\u2019s what Carter does on the basketball court.<\/p>\n

Kaneland\u2019s 6-foot-1 senior guard gets into people defensively. He can be a nuisance to opposing guards, providing a physical and mental challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know my role. My role is to bring energy and play defense and then transfer my energy to the team,\u201d Carter said. \u201cI play football DB. I just like the defense.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Carter on the front end and 6-foot-9 Jeffrey Hassan blocking everything in sight on the back, Kaneland\u2019s defense was devastating in the early going Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\"Kaneland's<\/p>\n

Plano Christmas Classic Championship Basketball: Yorkville Christian at Kaneland Kaneland’s Jalen Carter (10) puts up a shot during their Plano Christmas Classic Championship basketball game between Yorkville Christian at Kaneland Tuesday, Dec 30, 2025 in Plano. (Gary E Duncan Sr. for Shaw Local)<\/p>\n

It forced Yorkville Christian<\/a> to miss its first 13 shots, while Kaneland scored the game\u2019s first 14 points.<\/p>\n

The unbeaten Knights rode that stunning start to a 78-47 win in the championship game of the 62nd Plano Classic for Kaneland\u2019s third straight Classic title, sixth overall.<\/p>\n

Kaneland (12-0) became the second team to win three straight Classic titles, joining Seneca from 2004-2006.<\/p>\n

It can thank in large part Carter, who wasn\u2019t on the team last year that beat Yorkville Christian 91-85 in the 2024 final. He transferred to Kaneland in January.<\/p>\n

Yorkville Christian star Jayden Riley scored a career-high 39 in that previous meeting. But with Carter on him, Riley picked up three fouls in the first quarter \u2013 two on push-off offensive fouls Carter took \u2013 and scored just two points in the first half.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew that they had a good player, Jayden, we knew we had to stop him, he\u2019s the head of the snake,\u201d said Kaneland senior guard Marshawn Cocroft, repeat tournament MVP with 22 points Tuesday. <\/p>\n

\u201cJalen played a big role in that. He starts our defense. Every night he is guarding the best player on the other team, whether 6-foot-8 or 6-foot. He knows how to get into people\u2019s head and he won\u2019t back down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hassan added 17 points, 12 rebounds and seven blocks, Isaiah Gipson 12 and Evan Frieders and Connor Kimme 10 for Kaneland. Riley finished with 21 points and Tray Alford 10 for Yorkville Christian (10-3).<\/p>\n

\"Kaneland's<\/p>\n

Plano Christmas Classic Championship Basketball: Yorkville Christian at Kaneland Kaneland’s Isaiah Gipson puts up an acrobatic shot during their Plano Christmas Classic Championship basketball game between Yorkville Christian at Kaneland Tuesday, Dec 30, 2025 in Plano. (Gary E Duncan Sr. for Shaw Local)<\/p>\n

Carter scored just one point, and missed all six shots he took. But his defense on Riley was undeniable. He took three charges and he fought through two illegal screens.<\/p>\n

\u201cHeart, the kid has guts, works his butt off,\u201d Kaneland coach Ernie Colombe said. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t need the ball, he doesn\u2019t have to take 30 shots. We pride ourselves on defense. We think defense travels and it starts with Jalen.\u201d<\/p>\n

It ends with the long arms and athleticism of Hassan, who had five of his seven blocks in the first quarter. Kaneland led 21-5 after those eight minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re blessed, we have 6-9 in the back, that\u2019s a luxury most coaches don\u2019t have,\u201d Colombe said. \u201cJeffrey is coming. We have coaches calling us every day. We had coaches from the ACC calling us today about him. The sky is the limit for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carter, for his part, seemed to relish the matchup with Riley, and had him out of is element for a half. The two had a brief dustup in the third quarter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re friends on and off the court,\u201d Carter said. \u201cI knew it was going to be competitive. I\u2019ve been playing him since middle school, I know his ball. I just went out there and competed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The teams\u2019 previous meeting was scintillating, Yorkville Christian hitting 19 of 38 3-pointers in defeat. But the Mustangs could not come close to replicating that shooting.<\/p>\n

Yorkville Christian was just 4 for 24 from beyond the arc. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor the whole week there was a lid on the hoop for us. We couldn\u2019t buy one, but a lot of that is Kaneland,\u201d Yorkville Christian coach Aaron Sovern said. \u201cI told them go win 3A, you have the horses, this is the year to do it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would have had to play almost perfect to beat them, which we kind of did last year. We didn\u2019t do it today.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Mustangs, despite their miserable start, were within 37-24 at half.<\/p>\n

Riley got it going out of halftime, but so too did Kaneland, 26 points in the third quarter and a 10-0 run to push the lead to 61-34.<\/p>\n

\"Yorkville<\/p>\n

Plano Christmas Classic Championship Basketball: Yorkville Christian at Kaneland Yorkville Christian’s Jordan Purvis (21) and Kaneland’s Jeffrey Hassan (34) fight for a rebound during their Plano Christmas Classic Championship basketball game between Yorkville Christian at Kaneland Tuesday, Dec 30, 2025 in Plano. (Gary E Duncan Sr. for Shaw Local)<\/p>\n

Cocroft and Hassan, six inches taller than Yorkville Christian\u2019s tallest starter, had 17 of Kaneland\u2019s 26 in the third quarter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to attack them inside,\u201d Cocroft said. \u201cThey didn\u2019t have anybody to guard Jeffrey, they couldn\u2019t defend him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kaneland has now won 39 consecutive regular-season games dating back to November 2024 of last season. The Knights should be a significant favorite in every regular-season game from here on out.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just take it one game at a time,\u201d Cocroft said. \u201cDon\u2019t look ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jalen Carter starred as a dual-threat quarterback for Kaneland football in the fall, but he\u2019ll play defensive back…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":105943,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[35359,160,162,161],"class_list":{"0":"post-105942","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-plano","8":"tag-illinois-high-school-boys-basketball","9":"tag-plano","10":"tag-plano-headlines","11":"tag-plano-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105942\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}