Geneva wins title at Moline

Geneva's boys basketball team beat Moline and Urbana Monday at Moline's Martin Luther King Classic to win the round-robin at 4-0, with Vikings senior Nate Navigato named the exhibition's most valuable player.

Having beaten Evergreen Park and Marian Catholic on Saturday, Geneva (16-2) wrapped up the Classic with a 57-39 victory over the host school and an 82-59 win over Urbana.

"I think for us, we had little preparation time - granted it goes two ways - and I thought our kids responded really, really well," said Geneva coach Phil Ralston.

"Our concern was we wanted to play a team like Marian Catholic, we wanted to play a team like Moline, good teams. For us to persevere, I thought our kids did a great job."

The coach said Moline played a physical box-and-1 defense on the 6-foot-7 Navigato, who had totaled 45 points in Geneva's two wins on Saturday. It limited the Vikings to a 22-20 halftime lead and kept Navigato at 6 points for the game, but he was able to find shooters.

Loudon Vollbrecht, operating inside, scored 14 points, and 6-foot-7 Bennett Fuzak scored a game-high 23 points.

"We ran sets for him that normally we would run for Nate," Ralston said. "We were like, OK, try to take Nate away, we still have a lot of weapons."

The main weapon returned for Geneva in its 82-59 win over Urbana, a Navigato performance Ralston termed "insane."

The coach said Urbana pushed the tempo faster than he prefers, but the Buffalo-bound Navigato scored 33 points and was named the Classic's MVP. Vollbrecht and Fuzak, who scored 14 and 12 points, respectively against Urbana, also were named to the all-tournament team.

"I'll freely admit on paper, and looking at last year, that this was a lot tougher than I really kind of bargained for," Ralston said. "This was a tough stretch."

At Rockford Jefferson:

Batavia beat Rockford Guilford and Belvidere North to go 2-0 for Monday and 3-1 over the two-day Rockford Jefferson Martin Luther King Jr. tournament.

"It kind of breaks up the season, the everyday mundane of the season, something different, and we saw four teams that we never see," said Bulldogs coach Jim Nazos. "It's a real nice facility there at Jefferson. It was a good experience. To come out 3-1, that's what you want to do."

Batavia (13-9) trailed Rockford Guilford nearly the entire game, yet won 51-49. Tied at 49-49 Batavia held for the last shot. Chasen Peez was fouled and made 2 free throws with four seconds left for the win. Peez scored 14 points, Canaan Coffey adding 11.

"It was kind of one of those where they found a way to lose and we played just well enough to get a win," Nazos said.

Batavia chipped away at Belvidere North, extending an 8-point lead, Nazos said, to 17 entering the fourth quarter and pulling away to a 66-43 Bulldogs victory.

"We got three wins, which is good," Nazos said. "We're 13-9 and really close to having about 16, 17 (wins) right now - but I'm sure there a lot of teams that could say that."

At Wheaton Warrenville South:

Marmion (9-9) concluded its two days at WW South's third annual Martin Luther King Basketball Tournament on Monday with losses to Plainfield South and Bartlett to go 1-3 overall. Despite losing star forward Jake Esp probably through Friday to a sprained ankle, Cadets coach Joe Currie saw it as an overall success.

"I think it puts us in a good position for the final push of the last 10 games before we get into the playoffs," Currie said.

Esp twisted his right ankle landing from a rebound in the second quarter of Marmion's first game Monday, a 63-50 loss to Plainfield South. Currie said Esp should be available for Saturday's Suburban Christian Conference game at St. Francis.

After Esp went down, fellow senior Jordan Glasgow took over with 17 of his team-high 26 points after halftime. In addition, Currie said Matt Fletcher, Mike Seraphin and Evan Pickard picked up the slack inside.

"We didn't get the win," Currie said, "but they grew up."

Bartlett led Marmion by as many as 23 points in the fourth quarter before the Cadets cut the deficit to 7 with about 1:20 to play, Currie said.

"We just picked up our intensity a little bit more," he said. "We started finishing some things and hit some shots that we weren't hitting earlier, causing some turnovers both in the frontcourt and in the backcourt."

Glasgow again led Marmion with 20 points. Pickard added 19 and point guard Jon Young 7.

"We played four very good games," Currie said. "Every game we were in it."