Geneva enjoys more home cooking

So far, the Geneva Vikings have enjoyed smooth sailing on the ship that is their home court.

In hosting its second Western Sun Conference game of the season Tuesday night, Geneva (5-2, 2-1) had similar results in running an opponent out of the gym.

The Yorkville Foxes (2-5, 0-1) were the victims this time, falling behind 19-3 after one quarter and ending up on the losing end of a 64-37 thumping.

"We're going to continue to go at this pace as much as we can," Geneva coach Tim Pease said. "We're pleased with how we are moving the ball around and we have a lot of different players scratching the scoring column."

Nine Vikings were in that scoring column, led by senior guards Max Cary and Alex Turnowchyk, with 12 points each, and junior forward Jeremy D'Amico, who added 11 points and a game-high 9 rebounds.

"We have a lot of point guards now, so I had to step up and become a big man," said D'Amico, who possesses a sharp outside shooting touch to go along with his improving game close to the basket.

"I have to contribute and get in there for rebounds, because everyone has to crash the boards," D'Amico added.

Yorkville enjoyed its only lead of the night when point guard Jordan Rollins opened the game with an offensive rebound basket on his way to a game-high 18 points.

While both teams employed zone defenses in the opening quarter, Geneva's trapping pressure caused more problems. The Vikings went to the locker room at halftime with a 35-14 lead, mainly by holding Yorkville to 5 of 24 shooting and forcing 13 turnovers.

"Early on, we were just trying take the ball out of Rollins' hands and trying to make him pass," Pease said. "If we could get a turnover or a deflection as the result of that, we were going to take it, as I just didn't want him to be the show."

Neither team enjoyed a major rebounding edge, as Geneva had 33 to Yorkville's 31 in the contest, but in the second half the Vikings' frontliners of Chris Jordan and Tyler Scofield, each with 8 points, and Rob Tauscher, with 6 points, were finding openings and cutting to the basket for easy layups.

It left Yorkville coach Jerry Farber searching for answers.

"We just lack a lot of confidence," Farber said. "When we don't make a lot of shots, our defense goes down and our turnovers go up.

"We have to turn that around," Farber added. "Right now, Jordan (Rollins) is the only one who has any confidence out there and he was able to withstand that."

Pease, on the other hand, has enjoyed the early returns this season, noting that if not for a poor opening six minutes at Glenbard South on Friday, his team could be undefeated in conference.

In addition to clicking well in a fast-break offense, the Vikings also were solid in half-court sets against Yorkville, leading to 56 percent shooting in converting 27 of 48 shots from the field.

"Our big guys can go out and play away from the basket out of our offense that we are running," Pease said. "They are cutting hard to the basket, and they can all go to the basket off the dribble.

"Having said all of that, we still have a lot of work to do."