Geneva beats Kaneland at United Center

What a fantastic way for the Geneva boys basketball team to end 2008 - on a 7-game winning streak and playing at the United Center.

The streak started with a win over rival Batavia and continued when the Vikings won all 5 games at DeKalb's Chuck Dayton Holiday Tournament. They won lucky No. 7 in Western Sun Conference action Wednesday when they topped Kaneland 58-39 on the Chicago Bulls' home court in Chicago.

"(The win over Batavia) showed the kids what we've been doing is not a fluke," Geneva coach Phil Ralston said. "We've kind of had the mindset that at tournament time, we were going to do the best we could to keep it going. The kids have been very good about staying focused on what our goals are - I think the kids have done a very nice job in the past 11 days."

Adding to the excitement for Geneva (14-1, 5-1) was Jeremy D'Amico's 32-point performance. The senior scored 18 points in the first half and finished with four 3-pointers and a team-high 8 rebounds.

"It's just great playing at the United Center," D'Amico said. "It's a big difference from playing at home. It's just great."

With the exception of a 2-2 knot in the first two minutes of the game, Geneva led the rest of the way. There was a point at the end of the first and opening minute of the second quarter where both teams combined for 5 consecutive 3s.

D'Amico hit three consecutive treys in the middle of the second that gave Geneva its largest lead of the first half at 29-15.

"We told (D'Amico) if he was going to shoot from the perimeter, they have to be open (and) set 3-point shots, and he hit them," Ralston said. "(The three consecutive 3-pointers) was really the back-breaker. That really opened up the game for us."

Kaneland (5-5, 0-3) was able to fight back by going on a 9-0 run, thanks to Dave Dudzinski (team-high 15 points, 12 rebounds) and Ryley Bailey (9 points, 3 steals). A free throw from D'Amico with 4:17 left in the third interrupted the run, but following that was Brody Root's 3-pointer that brought the Knights within 34-30.

"They jumped out on us, and I don't think our guys were ready to respond," Ralston said. "But I thought the kids did a nice job of not panicking."

Geneva capped the third quarter on a 7-0 run that turned into a 12-0 run after it scored the first 5 points of the fourth. When the run was done, Geneva led 46-30 and remained ahead in double-digits the rest of the way.

In addition to D'Amico, Geneva was led by Rob Tauscher's 12 points. All players on both sides saw action. An extra five-minute period was added at the end of the game for the bench players. Kaneland won that contest, 8-5.

"We didn't execute on offense very well," Kaneland coach Dennis Hansen said. "We just never got any kind of rhythm going. We did in spots here and there - for the most part, I was happy. We just didn't score enough points."