Geneva triumphs in return to Mack Olson gym
Geneva forward Scott Wendt had a simple - and effective - philosophy about what to do in order to turn a tight game against Western Sun Conference foe Yorkville into a blowout victory Tuesday night.
"After Friday (a loss against DeKalb), we saw how bad we can shoot, and we didn't want that to happen again," Wendt said. "We started off not shooting well from the outside tonight, so I just went right into the inside for those easy baskets."
Wendt tallied a game-high 21 points by staying constantly active near the basket in leading host Geneva to a 66-45 victory over the Foxes in the Vikings' old stomping grounds of the Mack Olson gymnasium.
Guard Nolan Block added 14 points, while center Brandon Beitzel was a monster under the boards, tallying 12 points and yanking down a game-high 16 rebounds.
"It's tough being only 6-3 at center, and I'm not going to be a big scorer when we have Nolan and Scott shooting from outside," Beitzel said. "So you have to get your stuff inside, and whatever I can get on the inside, is what I get."
What Beitzel got was plenty in helping Geneva (6-2, 3-1) to a 34-17 rebounding edge - a statistic that was not lost on his coach.
"We did an exceptional job rebounding against a much bigger DeKalb team last Friday and we told the team that if there was any buildable moment from that, it was to be even more aggressive and not get outrebounded," Geneva coach Phil Ralston said. "I think it helped pay dividends tonight."
Ralston continues to be pleased with Beitzel's early-season efforts.
"He has been a big surprise for us," Ralston said. "Not that he wasn't capable of doing it last year, but he's just doing things he wasn't doing last year.
"Elevating on rebounds is a key thing. Last year we just wanted him to be able to box out; this year he is boxing out and securing the rebounds."
The rebounding was important, considering that Yorkville (4-4, 1-2) was clinging to the 3-point shot as its key weapon. The Foxes nailed five in the first half and trailed only 25-20 at halftime.
But when those 3s weren't falling in the third quarter, the Vikings dominated the boards and ran Yorkville out of the gym to take a 45-28 lead into the final quarter.
Wendt scored 14 of his 21 points in the second half, mostly on hard drives to the basket that resulted in layups or free throws.
"We didn't do a very good job in the second half defensively," Yorkville coach Jerry Farber said. "I think we panicked a little bit when we fell behind by 12 points in the second half.
"We didn't help each other out on the defensive end," Farber added. "We were going through screens and just chasing, and not helping, and then we were caught under the basket and couldn't get rebounds."
Tavis Gibson led Yorkville with 10 points, while Ricardo Williams chipped in with 9. The Foxes hit eight 3-pointers, but made only 16-of-47 shots from the floor for 34 percent, while Geneva made 22-of-52 for 42 percent. Geneva also enjoyed a 20-5 edge at the free-throw line.
The game marked the first boys varsity contest in the Mack Olson gym since the 2000-2001 season ended with a bitter regional loss against West Chicago.
"How many schools have a facility like this, where you have an old gym that can seat about 1,000 people?" Ralston asked. "I talked to Jim Kafer (athletic director) about playing a Tuesday night game in here because it would be a good atmosphere with about 700 to 800 people in here, and it was."