Clutch 3s, stellar 'D' puts Geneva in title game

Geneva turned to an unusual strategy to solve its free throw woes in the fourth quarter Wednesday against Oswego at the Hoops for Healing Tournament.

The Vikings moved back - about five feet - and drained consecutive 3-pointers that kept them undefeated on the season and kept them from letting a 9-point lead slip away.

Nolan Block and Dan Trimble provided the clutch 3-pointers, sparking the Vikings on a 10-0 run to end the game with a 51-43 victory.

Geneva missed 8 straight free throws in the second half, including a pair of front ends of 1-and-1s, enabling Oswego (2-1) to turn a 41-30 deficit into its only second-half lead at 43-41.

"It wouldn't have been the same ballgame if we would have just hit our free throws," Geneva coach Phil Ralston said. "You get tired at the end of the game, you play three games in less than three days, I'm sure the legs were a little tired. We kept on telling kids on the free throws, "legs." that's why a lot of them were coming up short. You miss two or three and it's like a plague. You can't hit any of them."

Nolan Block, who led all scorers with 17 points, knocked down a 3-pointer with 2:30 remaining for the first Geneva points of the fourth quarter and a 44-43 lead.

After two more Geneva misses at the line, Block assisted on Trimble's 3 that gave Geneva a 4-point cushion. The Vikings' defense did the rest, shutting Oswego out the final 3 minutes while holding the Panthers to 38 percent shooting for the game.

"Our defense has been spectacular. Our offense will get there. Its not where it should be but our defense has been great," said Block, who said the atmosphere - a good-sized crowd showed up for the 1:30 p.m. game - all the misses at the line.

"We practice free throws at the end of practice every day but you just can't simulate a game like this. Their crowd was loud and we just have to step up next game and knock them down."

Geneva's sluggish fourth quarter contrasted solid play in the first three, when the Vikings worked for high-percentage shots (hitting 17 of 34) to build leads of 29-20 at halftime and 41-32 after three quarters over the Panthers, last year's Class 3A runner-up.

The Vikings slowed their pace to start the fourth quarter a little too much, Ralston said.

"During a timeout we just told them to relax and run our offense. It's like we got afraid to shoot the ball there," Ralston said. "We told them we're not playing not to lose, we're playing to win the game. If we get shots that are within our offense we want to take those. It was just a matter of being patient, getting the looks we wanted. They (the go-ahead 3-pointers) were just wide-open shots. Those are the shots we want them to take.

Andrew Ziemnik led the Panthers with 12 points.

"One of those could have, should have, would haves," Oswego coach Kevin Schnable said. "We tied it at 41 and we fell apart. For some reason we took breaks on defense. Offensively we took questionable shots."

Brandon Beitzel joined Block in double figures with 13 points and led Geneva on the boards with 8. Trimble added 7 points, Alex Frederking came off the bench with 6 and also had a steal and assist to Dan Hince for another basket.

Schnable was impressed with Geneva's press that helped the Vikings dictate the tempo, just as they did a year ago.

"Phil does a good job with his kids," Schnable said. "His 2-2-1 press didn't force a lot if turnovers but it did its job, it slowed it down. We are trying to play fast and physical, they are trying to play slow and physical. I thought his kids did a good job with their press keeping the ball in front of them. The score indicates that. They did it to us last year, they did it again today. They controlled the pace."

Geneva (3-0) will play Naperville North (3-0/2-1) for the championship at 4:30 p.m. Friday at Oswego. The Vikings also won the tournament last year.

"It was our first goal of the year," Block said. "Everyone is gunning for us, we have a target on our backs because we were the defending champs from last year. Everyone said we aren't going to do anything this year, we can't win two tournaments and a conference title. I think we are starting to prove some people wrong already."