Jalen Carter starred as a dual-threat quarterback for Kaneland football in the fall, but he’ll play defensive back collegiately at NIU.

Defend, that’s what Carter does on the basketball court.

Kaneland’s 6-foot-1 senior guard gets into people defensively. He can be a nuisance to opposing guards, providing a physical and mental challenge.

“I know my role. My role is to bring energy and play defense and then transfer my energy to the team,” Carter said. “I play football DB. I just like the defense.”

With Carter on the front end and 6-foot-9 Jeffrey Hassan blocking everything in sight on the back, Kaneland’s defense was devastating in the early going Tuesday.

It forced Yorkville Christian to miss its first 13 shots, while Kaneland scored the game’s first 14 points.

The unbeaten Knights rode that stunning start to a 78-47 win in the championship game of the 62nd Plano Classic for Kaneland’s third straight Classic title, sixth overall.

Kaneland (12-0) became the second team to win three straight Classic titles, joining Seneca from 2004-2006.

It can thank in large part Carter, who wasn’t on the team last year that beat Yorkville Christian 91-85 in the 2024 final. He transferred to Kaneland in January.

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 – two on push-off offensive fouls Carter took – and scored just two points in the first half.

“We knew that they had a good player, Jayden, we knew we had to stop him, he’s the head of the snake,” said Kaneland senior guard Marshawn Cocroft, repeat tournament MVP with 22 points Tuesday.

“Jalen 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’s head and he won’t back down.”

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).

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.

“Heart, the kid has guts, works his butt off,” Kaneland coach Ernie Colombe said. “He doesn’t need the ball, he doesn’t have to take 30 shots. We pride ourselves on defense. We think defense travels and it starts with Jalen.”

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.

“We’re blessed, we have 6-9 in the back, that’s a luxury most coaches don’t have,” Colombe said. “Jeffrey 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.”

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.

“We’re friends on and off the court,” Carter said. “I knew it was going to be competitive. I’ve been playing him since middle school, I know his ball. I just went out there and competed.”

The teams’ 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.

Yorkville Christian was just 4 for 24 from beyond the arc.

“For the whole week there was a lid on the hoop for us. We couldn’t buy one, but a lot of that is Kaneland,” Yorkville Christian coach Aaron Sovern said. “I told them go win 3A, you have the horses, this is the year to do it.

“We would have had to play almost perfect to beat them, which we kind of did last year. We didn’t do it today.”

The Mustangs, despite their miserable start, were within 37-24 at half.

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.

Cocroft and Hassan, six inches taller than Yorkville Christian’s tallest starter, had 17 of Kaneland’s 26 in the third quarter.

“We wanted to attack them inside,” Cocroft said. “They didn’t have anybody to guard Jeffrey, they couldn’t defend him.”

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.

“We just take it one game at a time,” Cocroft said. “Don’t look ahead.”