Boys Basketball: After long wait, Brayden Long is back, helps lead Yorkville Christian past Sandwich at Plano Classic

PLANO – Brayden Long has waited a long time, no pun intended, to get back on the floor to run and gun with his Yorkville Christian teammates.

Playing in only his second game of the season Monday afternoon, Dec. 27, Long had a steal and a layup in the opening minute, and the Mustangs cruised to a 95-43 victory over Sandwich in the first round of 58th annual Plano Christmas Classic.

“It’s definitely been tough from COVID and then breaking my foot three times,” Long said. “It definitely is exciting getting out there, but at the same time, I was really nervous because I don’t want anything to give. I’m always conscious of that.”

Long had the second surgery on his injured footSept. 14 to repair the fifth metatarsal, the bone on the outside of the midfoot at the base of the small toe. He was cleared to return to basketball about three weeks ago and saw his first action Wednesday, Dec. 22, in a 94-51 victory over Earlville.

While he was the lone starter to not score in double figures against the Indians (1-8), Long scored seven points, grabbed four rebounds and had three assists. He scored eight points in his season debut last week.

“It’s just kind of knocking off the rust still,” Long said. ”It’s mainly my shot and getting the feel of the game. Strength-wise and on defense, I’m a little shaky because I don’t trust myself planting off the foot 100% yet. And then jumping-wise I’m still not 100% jumping off that foot, but other than that ... .”

Yorkville Christian (8-7) didn’t pull away, at least not right away, from an Indians team that it beat, 90-52, Nov. 30.

“The first 11 minutes of the game, the first quarter and then three minutes into the second quarter we were right there,” Indians coach Kevin Kozan said. “We were down eight to 10, but it was staying there.”

It didn’t stay there for long, however. After Chris Sommers made two free throws to pull Sandwich to within 24-14 with 6:50 left in the first half, the Mustangs went on a 16-0 run to take a 40-14 lead with 3:21 remaining.

“Coming into this game we knew it was more about us getting better,” Kozan said. “We faced them twice and we’ve faced Burlington [Central] once so we’ve seen the best pressure in the state and that’s helped us. This game does nothing but help us and the confidence is still there. We’ve got to hit shots, and we will, and we’ve got to limit turnovers.”

Yorkville Christian committed just nine of them while forcing and taking advantage of 26 turnovers by the Indians. Those turnovers quickly turned into points, as the Mustangs erupted for 37 points in the third quarter to break the game wide open.

Duke recruit Jaden Schutt led the Mustangs, making 11 of 15 of his shots, to finish with 27 points. K.J. Vasser added 16 points, David Douglas Jr. had 15 points, and Tyler Burrows contributed 10 points and six assists.

“It took a little while to get going, but we’ve got a lot of talented guys who can score and move the ball,” Schutt said. “We found the openings and took advantage of it.”

The Mustangs made 16 of 33 3-pointers with nine players drilling at least one.

“We’ve got a lot of guys that get in the gym and work on their shooting and stuff,” Schutt said. “That’s one of the great things about Yorkville Christian - there’s a lot of gym availability and a lot of hoops. A lot of kids are putting in the work on their shots.”

Owen Sheley led the Indians with 12 points. Evan Gottlieb added eight points, Dylan Young had seven, and Theo Arnold had nine rebounds.