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Geneva hits 13 3s in rout of Elgin

Mitch Mascari figured he had the green light.

The Geneva junior guard was well beyond the 3-point arc during the Vikings' Upstate Eight River boys basketball game against Elgin Friday night.

Mascari simply let fly from downtown midway through the third quarter.

The ball found nothing but net as the conversion marked the sixth 3-pointer of the game for Mascari in the Vikings' 73-54 victory in Geneva.

"I just saw how much space I had and shot it," said Mascari, who finished with a team-high 20 points. "Luckily, it went in."

The Vikings (17-10, 7-4) lit up the Maroons' defense with 13 3-pointers in dominating the game from start to finish.

Geneva scored 17 of the first 20 points of the game as Elgin, which finished its regular season at 10-17 overall and 2-10 in the league, secured its only lead on the first of four Trey Yarber 3-pointers two possessions into the game.

The most telling indicator of a distinctive Geneva advantage came on the glass as the Vikings corralled the first 8 missed shots of the game.

"I noticed that, too," Mascari said of the Vikings' adroitness around the rim. "It seemed like every time we got an offensive rebound, they kicked it out for a wide-open three. Even Jack (Hood) had one."

Hood scored 10 of his 15 points in the opening quarter and also finished the game with three 3-pointers.

"Being senior night, we started making shots," said Hood. "The next thing you knew it was a big lead. We're definitely a good perimeter shooting team."

Geneva made more than half of its shots from the floor (16-for-31) in the first half in building a 43-26 lead at the intermission.

Elgin did not score a conventional field goal until Dan Toolsie, who led all players with 21 points, scored on a driving layup three minutes into the second quarter.

Elgin never came closer than 12 points - two-thirds through the second - after Geneva more than trumped the Maroons' three first-quarter 3-pointers with 25 points.

The carnage only worsened when Geneva scored on three straight trips to open the third quarter.

The Vikings were 9-for-11 with four 3-pointers in scoring another 23 points in the third.

"It was a big win overall," Hood said.

Nate Santos' 12 points off the bench paced the reserves for Geneva; the Vikings' Josh Preston had 9 points off the bench, and starting guard Jack McDonald augmented his ball-handling duties with 7 points.

Toolsie fought to the end as Elgin outscored Geneva 17-7 in the fourth to make the final far more palatable.

"I don't know why I played harder at the end," Toolsie said. "We were down so much. It didn't feel right in my head."

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