Rochelle 97, Geneva 84; Glenbard S. 60, Kaneland 39

The Geneva boys basketball team scored 84 points and had 4 starters reach double-digits in scoring in Friday's Western Sun Conference game against Rochelle.

It was a typical outing for the Vikings, except the Hubs matched Geneva's run-and-gun style of play, also had 4 players reach double-digits and had just a little more offensive power.

As a result, the Hubs beat the Vikings 97-84 in Rochelle.

"The pace was established the way we like it, but we let them score too much in the first half," Geneva coach Tim Pease said. "We should have maintained the lead going into the second half. The second half was just a war."

"We thought we'd match up well," Geneva's Chris Jordan added. "We knew it was going to be a tough game. I thought as a team we ran well at the beginning, but at the end, we were out of our game. We should have kept with it."

Geneva (11-6, 6-2) took control in the first quarter and led by as much as 28-18 with 2:20 left after Max Cary's personal 8-0 run.

"We were getting good looks at the basket," Cary said. "We were getting layups, but we weren't getting that in the third and fourth quarters."

Rochelle, however, produced a better second quarter by outscoring the Vikings 23-15, yet didn't take the lead until the second half.

The Hubs (10-7, 4-4) and Vikings were knotted at 47 at the break.

Rochelle took its first lead of the game at the 6:55 mark in the third quarter when Alex Prough hit one of his 5 game-high 3-pointers that gave his team the 52-49 advantage.

From that point on, Geneva never led again, as it was outscored 30-14 in the third.

Rochelle was able to maintain a double-digit lead through most of the fourth quarter. The Vikings were able to cut it to single digits once after Jordan's basket with 2:51 left in the game that sliced the Hubs' lead to 87-78.

Rochelle, however, scored the next 6 points in a span of one minute and put the game away.

"We feel we can score points in a hurry, but obviously, so can they," Pease said.

Jerry Moffit led all scorers with 30 points, including 9 points in the fourth for the Hubs.

Jordan finished with 25 points and 10 rebounds, Cary ended up with 21 points and 7 steals, Jeremy D'Amico tallied 16 points, 3 blocks and 8 rebounds while Alex Turnowchyk finished with 15 points and 8 rebounds for Geneva.

Glenbard South 60, Kaneland 39:ŒGlenbard South threatened to blow out Kaneland in the first quarter of Friday night's boys basketball game in Glen Ellyn.

In the third quarter the Raiders stopped threatening, running away to a 60-39 Western Sun Conference victory.

"We really just clicked on all cylinders today," Raiders senior Brian Smith said. "It was a really good game for all of us today. We just came out of halftime all pumped up. I think part of it was they beat us at their place in December, and we wanted to show that we had something to prove."

Their press made all the difference.

"We were able to come out and set a tone," Raiders coach Wade Hardtke said. "We looked to jump on them early and we had some success with it."

The Raiders defense forced an epidemic of traveling calls against Kaneland, the likes of which Knights coach Dennis Hansen doesn't want to see again.

"We just didn't handle things we needed to handle," Hansen said. "I don't know how many travels we had, but it was in double digits. If you can't take care of the basketball, you're not going to win in this league. That's been our problem all year. When you're not scoring, it just compounds things."

The Knights (6-10, 2-6) committed 12 first-quarter turnovers and another 9 in the third, when the Raiders outscored them 19-9.

That's unusual for Glenbard South (8-7, 4-3).

"That's been an area that we've struggled," Hardtke said. "That third quarter by far has been our weakest quarter. We've been statistically giving up the most points in the third quarter, so it was good to see us step up at that point."

Smith stepped up off the bench for the Raiders, pouring in 17 points, including three 3-pointers.

"He was a starter for us early on," Hardtke said. "When he's feeling it he's got a pretty shot, can really fill it up from the perimeter. He struggled with it early on, but now he's gaining some confidence and you see what he can do when he gets his feet set and gets his confidence going."

"My shots have been falling really well for me lately," added Smith, sporting a nasty cut on the right side of his nose from a cut into the high post. "Since the Christmas tournament I've just been hitting every shot I take. It feels really good because I was coming off little slump. I just shot myself out of it. I feel real confident now."

Raiders senior center Andy Manson added 10 points, and Wally Wiedner, Louis Erkins and Ralondo Shumate each had 8.

"That's been the key thing," Hardtke said. "We've been trying to get through to our guys, when we're successful is when we share the basketball and when we've got balanced scoring."

Senior forward Nick Wagner led the Knights with 16 points.

"This is the first time we haven't been competitive in a long time, probably since early December," Hansen said. "We weren't competitive tonight. It's all about ball security, that's where we're having our problems."

-- Orrin Schwarz