Sycamore stuns Geneva
Geneva may request that DeKalb County be taken off its travel plans when it comes to Western Sun Conference games.
Even though the Vikings won a holiday tournament in DeKalb, they did lose to the DeKalb Barbs just before the holidays. And they suffered their second loss in the county just west of Kane on Friday night when the host Sycamore Spartans took a page out of the Vikings' playbook to notch a 53-51 victory.
Geneva bolted to a 14-1 overall record to start the season by making a living at the free-throw line and often sinking more charity tosses than their opponents were taking in a game.
It was a script that Sycamore guard Michael Buckner apparently liked, as he sank 14 of 18 free throws, including four in the game's final wild minute, to seal the Spartans' victory. Those 14 free throws were three more than Geneva made as a team and helped Buckner tally a team-high 20 points.
It was not surprising that a game that saw eight ties and 21 lead changes came down to the final seconds.
But it was troubling for Geneva coach Phil Ralston to watch his team fail to sustain any long runs, and falter down the stretch when a key bucket could have changed the outcome.
"We couldn't make shots at the end of the game and we missed some free throws in key spots," Ralston said. "We had chances to capitalize and take the lead, but when you play a game like this and have to gamble at the end, you have results like this."
Neither team was able to take command, but both enjoyed five-point leads at one time. Sycamore (6-6, 3-1) led 33-28 at the half, and Geneva (14-2, 4-2) had its biggest lead at 44-39 early in the fourth quarter.
But that was when the game turned. After a driving layup attempt by Viking guard Sean Grady rolled off the rim, Sycamore responded with a short jumper by center Kyle Szychlinski and two 3-point bombs by Shane Carnahan (12 points) to jump ahead 47-44 with 3:40 left.
Chris Frederking answered for Geneva when he was fouled while scoring a rebound basket. He missed the free throw, and Sycamore's Harlan Johnson pounded inside to score for a 49-46 lead.
Jeremy D'Amico, who had a game-high 25 points and 6 rebounds, powered inside for a layup, while also drawing a foul. But he also missed his free throw, allowing Sycamore to stall for nearly a minute.
The game's final two minutes featured a couple of Geneva steals, but the Vikings couldn't convert those into tying or go-ahead baskets as Buckner continued his march to the free-throw line to close out the game.
"Some stuff didn't go our way and we have to be tougher at the end, and we missed some key free throws," said D'Amico, who fouled out with 36 seconds left and wasn't on the floor when Geneva needed a 3-pointer to tie. "They just came up with more balls than we did."
Sycamore coach Jeff Hillmer utilized various defenses in an attempt to make Geneva play a little faster than it likes, but he pointed to his team's relentless hustle as the key.
"We came out and competed and didn't get knocked out early," Hillmer said. "When we've lost some games, that's what has happened. We have a slow quarter, get behind, and then we have to play catch-up, and against good teams you just are not going to be able to do that.
"We just had a great, intense effort tonight."