Boys basketball: Parker Violett, Kaneland muscle past Marmion

AURORA – Never mind currently playing through a sprained left calf and a broken finger, Parker Violett isn’t going to let that stop him from playing high-end basketball.

Whether it was providing sticky defense in the low post, corralling rebounds or earning a tough bucket or two inside the paint, the effort the Kaneland senior provided was complimentary in their 50-35 win over Marmion on Saturday.

Violett suffered the pair of injuries back on Nov. 28 in a 79-56 win over Rochelle, and has played through them the last three games, including Saturday.

“Doesn’t matter to me. It just [about] helping out the team. It’s all I can do,” Violett said following his seven-point, eight-rebound and four-block performance.

“He’s a warrior,” Kaneland coach Ernie Colombe said. “He’s been battling. He’s got a broken finger [and] he’s got a sprained calf and he just battles. There will be days when the trainer says ‘Hey, coach, if you want to let him go light today’ [Violett] will come in and say ‘Coach, I’ll practice today. I’m not going light’ That’s the kind of kid he is. He’s a warrior, so he’s an energy-guy, gets tough rebounds [and] he battles. He’s about 6-foot-3, but I think he plays a lot bigger than 6-foot-3.”

Kaneland (6-1, 2-0) and Marmion (4-5) were knotted at 22 at halftime, but the Knights turned up the defensive pressure in the third quarter. The Cadets didn’t secure their first field goal until Evan Stumm’s jumper with 2:24 left in the quarter, and they finished with just five collective points in the eight minute stretch.

Kaneland, meanwhile, added 13 for the 35-27 lead entering the fourth quarter.

The Knights kept up an 8-0 run to open the frame. Marmion sophomore Braden Harms stopped the bleeding going 1 of 2 at the free throw line, but Knights guard Evan Frieders answered with a 3-pointer. Marmion guard Christian Stewart had a running layup to make it a 16 point game, but after two Freddy Hassan free throws, both teams emptied the benches with 2:18 remaining.

Kaneland guard Troyer Carlson had eight points and seven rebounds, while Hassan had 12 points and nine rebounds. Frieders had eight points.

“We’re a work in progress. You saw the first half, [that] we’re good when we move the ball. We share the ball and we try to do too much dribbling. We’re not very good yet, but when we move the ball; when we get some matchups, we can be tough at times,” Colombe said. “Defensively, I thought, tonight we were really tough in the second half. I don’t know what we held them to, but it seemed like [a bit]. And, they’ve got some shooters, so it was really good to see we’re capable of that.”

“So, I think what we’ve been challenging guys to do is try to do that for longer,” Colombe continued. “If you play a good quarter, let’s play a good quarter and a half. Let’s stretch that out to a half. So, we’re just trying to be more consistent and playing some different guys...we have a long way to go.”

Marmion was paced by 14 points via Stumm, while Matthew and Christian Stewart each had four points apiece on a off-shooting night.

“We were getting some good looks and they weren’t falling,” Marmion coach Joe Piekarz said. “That happens sometimes. If you’re playing a good team [when] you have stretches like that [and] you can’t score [it’s not ideal]. We were busting on the defensive end and that was allowing us to stay in the game. You just hope, at that point, a couple shots fall and you get a run. It’s tough when that happens. We stayed consistent with our defense to at least continue to give us a chance.”