Beitzel, Geneva shoot down West Chicago
As a starting quarterback for the Geneva football team the past two years and starting forward for the Vikings' basketball team the majority of the time this season, Brandon Beitzel isn't accustomed to a reserve role.
But the 6-foot-3 senior forward didn't seem to mind it one bit Monday night.
Beitzel came off the bench to score a game-high 17 points, leading 4 players in double figures, as the Vikings (19-9) pulled away for a 64-44 victory over West Chicago (3-23) in the opening round of the Geneva Class 4A regional tournament.
With the win, 11th-seeded Geneva will take on No. 6 Downers Grove South (17-9) in Wednesday's 7:30 p.m. semifinals.
Beitzel tallied 11 first-half points, including a 3-pointer, as the Vikings built a 24-14 lead with 1:31 left in the second quarter.
"It's always new coming off the bench but I think I'm a good option coming off the bench," said Beitzel. "I don't mind because you get a better look at the game."
Geneva coach Phil Ralston was more impressed with Beitzel's defensive contributions.
"He did a nice job for us especially on defense protecting the middle of the floor and keeping them off the boards," said Ralston.
West Chicago finished the first half on a 6-0 run, cutting the deficit to 24-20 on Lamar Moore's steal and layup with 20 seconds remaining.
Despite the Vikings' 8-for-16 effort from the field, Ralston wasn't overly thrilled by their shot selection.
"We only really had two good looks at the basket in the first half," said the coach. "We were chucking up shots left and right, and we weren't shooting high-percentage shots.
"Brandon hit some shots but even he took a couple bad shots, including an off-balance 3-pointer that he banked in. We just need to be a little bit smarter as to what we do in our next game."
After the Wildcats clawed within 24-22 on Kevin Peterson's putback, Nolan Block (13 points, 6 assists), J.P. Landry (12 points, 5 rebounds) and Scott Wendt (10 points) sparked a 13-2 run that extended the Vikings' lead to 37-24 with 2:56 left in the third quarter.
Geneva's pressure defense forced 7 third-quarter Wildcat turnovers, and the Vikings' 40-point second half was simply too much to overcome.
"We felt like we weren't giving it the full effort on the press in the first half and it still was taking them seven, eight seconds to get the ball across half-court," said Ralston. "We needed to tighten the defense a little bit."
Chad Driscoll and sophomore Justin Mundt each scored 8 points for the Wildcats.
"I think we had the ball three possessions in a row down (by) two and in position to either take the lead or tie it," said West Chicago coach Kevin Baldus. "We just made some mistakes that cost us."