Geneva surges past Larkin

Sixty seconds of big shots and key stops propelled the Geneva boys basketball team to a 66-61 win at Larkin Friday.

With a typically physical Upstate Eight River game between the Vikings and Royals deadlocked at 51 in the fourth quarter, Geneva junior guard Matt Johnston scored a pair of key buckets and senior guard Brandon Schleicher drew charges on consecutive possessions to fuel what proved to be a decisive 7-0 run.

With 3:09 left, Johnston jumped to grab a teammate's missed shot and banked it home while still in the air to give the Vikings the lead for good after 12 ties and seven lead changes.

Schleicher subsequently drew a player control foul at the other end against driving Larkin guard AJ Hunter to regain possession. Johnston capitalized seconds later by nailing a 3-pointer from the left corner to make it a 5-point lead.

"We trust him to shoot those," Geneva coach Phil Ralston said. "He's one of our guys."

Schleicher then brought both sides of the crowd to its feet when he drew a second charge, this time against standout Christian Negron, who finished with 22 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocks for Larkin (12-8, 5-3).

"We knew we had to be there, get a stop, pick up a charge somehow," Schleicher said. "In help defense that's what we preach. I just happened to be there at the right time and picked up the 2 charges."

Larkin coach Deryn Carter was whistled for a technical foul for disputing the second charge. Schleicher sank both free throws with 2:09 left to stake the Vikings to a 7-point lead. Larkin never again drew closer than 4 points.

"They made shots down the stretch and we didn't," Carter said. "I can't get that (technical) when I got it. That hurt us. It just hurt momentum. I think they got a couple of points off it. Unfortunate and disappointing, but we'll grow from it."

Five Vikings scored in double figures for balanced Geneva (19-5, 4-3), led by Schleicher with a career-high 15 points.

"Brandon Schleicher probably had his best game in a Viking uniform," Ralston said. "I'd say the 2 charges he picked up on back-to-back possessions, that was really kind of the breaking of the back right there."

Geneva turned the ball over 20 times, compared to Larkin's 13 miscues, but the Vikings won the rebounding battle 25-22 and shot the ball far better than the Royals. Larkin shot 39 percent from the field (20 of 51) compared to 52.6 percent for Geneva (20 of 38).

"There were about 16 points we could have had on uncontested layups that didn't go," Larkin guard Keyvon Kyles said. "It comes down to we have to execute. We can say 'Oh, there was a missed call here, there was a missed call there,' but you can't blame the refs. Coach said he couldn't blame our effort. Our effort was there."

Kyles finished with 11 points for Larkin, which saw its 4-game winning streak end.

Johnston had 14 points, Jordan Vedder added 13 and Cole Navigato and Bennett Fuzak each scored 12 points for Geneva, which won its fourth straight.