Boys basketball: Troyer Carlson, Gevon Grant lead Kaneland past Ottawa

MAPLE PARK – After Tuesday’s Interstate 8 Conference game against Ottawa there probably won’t be much debate that Kaneland has one of the best backcourt combinations in the conference with junior Troyer Carlson and senior Gevon Grant.

The pair combined for 61 points as Carlson scored a career-best 36 points, including 25 in the first half, while Grant posted 25 points, 18 of which came in the second half.

The end result for the Knights was a resounding 82-61 triumph over the Pirates as Kaneland’s dynamic duo accounted for 74% of their team’s offensive output.

Carlson shot 11 of 19 from the field and 11 of 14 from the free-throw line.

“Everything was clicking tonight for us, and I’m just happy to be part of such a big win against a good team like Ottawa,” Carlson said. “I had a nice first half and Gevon then picked us up in the second.”

Grant also nailed 11 of the 19 shots he took along with one free throw while dishing out four assists.

“My coaches told me to be strong with the ball when I go up to finish and I trusted my teammates, and overall we executed well tonight.” Grant said. “This was a great game for me following up my last one where I scored 27.”

Kaneland (6-1, 2-0 I8) shot 31 for 57 (54%) from the floor while outrebounding Ottawa 37-18 with junior Parker Violett and sophomore Freddy Hassan each hauling down a game-high 11 rebounds.

“Troyer and Gevon work really hard, and I’m very proud of both of them in the way they’ve played so far,” Kaneland coach Ernie Colombe said. “They’re really stepping up this year and we’re blessed to have those two guys, and when they’re competing like they did tonight we’re tough to beat.”

Ottawa (2-4, 1-1 I8) hung tough through three quarters, trailing by 10 as the Pirates shot 23 of 51 (45%) with senior Levi Sheehan registering a career-best 20 points. Payton Knoll had 13 points and junior Cooper Knoll added 12.

But the Pirates just couldn’t contend with the high-octane outburst put forth by Carlson and Grant.

“They were playing downhill the entire game, and we really struggled guarding them in transition,” Ottawa coach Mark Cooper said. “We were also minus-19 on the boards, and that proved to be the story of the game. There were a lot of good things that came out of this for us because we stayed with a very good basketball team for most of the night. But that’s a dynamic backcourt [Carlson and Grant] that Kaneland has, and I was happy with our competitive spirit where we never quit.”

Carlson went wild in the first quarter scoring 15 points, but the Pirates held tough trailing 20-19 after eight minutes.

He added 10 more in the second period, including a nifty lay in with five seconds to go that helped expand the Knights’ lead to 44-35 at halftime.

“It was a great half for me, and my teammates really helped me get off to a good start,” Carlson said. “We felt pretty comfortable going into the second half.”

That’s where Grant took over with nine points, including a spinning layup at 3:50 that put Kaneland ahead 57-40.

The Pirates weren’t through as they went on a 9-2 run and Cooper Knoll notched seven consecutive points to close the gap to 59-49 with eight minutes left.

Grant added nine more points in the final frame that spurred a 14-6 rally for the Knights, which increased their lead to 73-55 with 3:30 to go after Grant’s final bucket of the game.

Carlson drained two more free throws at 3:10 to conclude his night before the benches emptied.

“It was a great night for us, but it’s a long season and we’re not going to be satisfied with a win like this even though we’re off to a nice start,” Carlson said. “We’ve got a lot more work to do for sure.”