Kaneland’s Troyer Carlson has a good memory.
Last season, the Knights were knocked out of the postseason by Marmion. This time, they had a chance to avenge that loss on the Cadets’ home court with a regional championship on the line.
Admittedly, Carlson let that loss fuel him since last winter.
“This reminded me of last year,” Carlson said. “They talked so much. It got in my head. I’m not losing on their court. We’re cutting down their nets this year.”
The senior guard made the cut Friday night, scoring 13 of his 21 points in the second half as Kaneland rallied from a nine-point deficit for a 58-50 win in the Class 3A Marmion Regional final.
It was the first regional title of Carlson’s four-year varsity career. Parker Violett added 16 points and 12 rebounds for the Knights (25-5), who advanced to a 7 p.m. Wednesday semifinal in a sectional they host against Belvidere North (22-11), a 69-54 winner over Sycamore.
Evan Stumm scored 14 points to pace Marmion (14-18). Caden Anderson added 11.
Carlson, who realizes his teammates look to him in tough situations, came out with determination for the second half. He scored the first two baskets and later converted a 3-point play.
That ended the third quarter and gave Kaneland a 44-42 lead.
“I’ve been here many times,” Carlson said. “If I get my guys going, we’re hard to beat. We’re more talented. We just played down to their level in the first half. We were sick of it.”
Kaneland coach Ernie Colombe has seen Carlson take the reins many times throughout the years. He wasn’t surprised Carlson spearheaded Friday’s comeback.
“He’s a winner,” Colombe said. “We’ve had a pretty good run with him. His competitiveness rubs off on the other guys. They stepped up. When your leader is playing that hard and showing he’ll do anything to win, others will follow.
“We’re blessed to have him as a leader.”
When Marmion clamped down on Carlson in the fourth, it was actually an assist that led to the winning basket. He dished to Brad Franck for a 3-pointer with 3:35 remaining in the quarter.
That gave the Knights a 47-46 lead and they never trailed again, ending on an 11-4 spurt.
“We have some new guys out there who haven’t been in these moments as much, so they had to weather the storm a little bit,” Colombe said. “We just talked to them about fighting back and not getting overwhelmed in the moment and trusting each other. We went on a nice run.”
Marmion channeled the momentum of Wednesday’s 47-43 upset of Burlington Central to get off to a good start Friday. The Cadets led by as many as nine points in the first half.
“The first half is what we thought it could be,” Marmion coach Joe Piekarz said. “We did some things that gave us a chance to succeed. It was a really good start to the game.”
Marmion graduated all the key players from last season’s sectional championship team, which led many from outside the program to wonder what this edition for the Cadets would look like.
“This team has exceeded all expectations,” Piekarz said. “They heard from the start that everybody from last season is gone. You’re not going to win any games. You’re going to be bad.
“From the start they said, ‘Not so fast. We can play too.’”
Carlson, who recently set Kaneland’s all-time scoring record, gets another chance to add to that total Wednesday.
“We just have to keep winning — keep on going with our good season,” Carlson said. “Our crowd is always insane. It’s going to be a great game.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
