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Geneva holds off Streamwood

Geneva entered Tuesday night's Upstate Eight Conference River Division clash with Streamwood at 5-0 while the Sabres were 1-6, but for three-plus quarters those records sure didn't mean much.

The scrappy Sabres went on a 10-0 run in the third quarter to take a brief lead, and they trailed just 41-38 going to the fourth quarter and then 41-40 when sophomore DeAngelo Flynn whistled a perfect pass to a wide-open Antuan Patterson.

But for the final six minutes the Vikings showed their mettle, ending the game on a 17-5 run for a 58-45 victory.

Sophomore Jack McDonald led Geneva (6-0,2-0) with 16 points including a layup that started the Vikings' closing kick.

"It could have gone either way and we got it done," McDonald said. "A win is a win even though it was a little sloppy."

Matt Johnston followed with a 3-pointer on an assist Mitch Mascari, then Mascari scored on a possession kept alive by two offensive rebounds from William Courter to make it 48-40.

Brendon Marton, who sparked the Sabres' third quarter comeback, made a corner 3 bringing Streamwood within 51-45 with 2:01 remaining.

The Sabres, who hit just 2 of 12 shots in the fourth quarter and 16 of 46 in the game, didn't score again. Dom Navigato's putback, a Mascari 3 and Johnston's free throws iced the game.

"We make too many freshman, sophomore mistakes and we have guys that are juniors and seniors," Sabres coach Paul Kowalyszyn said. "We have some skill, we can knock some shots down, we can attack the basket. It's just making good decisions. I thought we did better with decisions tonight than we have the last couple weeks."

Kowalyszyn called an early timeout after Geneva opened the game on a 6-0 run in just 72 seconds. Cole Navigato's slam dunk started the second quarter and his inside hoop ended it with the Vikings leading 28-18 at halftime.

Streamwood (1-7, 0-2) took its only lead of the game 30-29 in the third quarter on 7 straight points from Moran including a three-point play, a step-back 17-foot jumper and a strong drive.

"We kind of challenged the guys at halftime that we haven't played our best basketball, let's make sure we come out in the third quarter and play harder and what do we do? They go on an 11-0 run," Geneva coach Phil Ralston said. "Obviously not very happy with that kind of response from our team."

Johnston added 11 points and 4 steals, and Mascari and Dom Navigato both scored 10 to put four Vikings in double figures with Cole Navigato adding 9. Dom Navigato also grabbed 13 rebounds.

Marton led Streamwood with 15 points and Jason Manalansan scored 9.

"I give Streamwood a tremendous amount of credit," Ralston said. "If someone thinks they have a night off with these guys they will be mistaken."

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