Geneva gets back on track behind Trimble’s 28 points

The road to respectability in the basketball world can be full of bumps and grinds.

The Geneva Vikings are traveling that road right now and faced plenty of those bumps and grinds in a 67-61 victory over Walther Lutheran in the second round of the East Aurora Holiday Tournament.

“In the kind of funk we have been in, where we’ve been playing really tough teams and just didn’t fare too well, we said this was a game that was just critical for us to get a win,” said Geneva coach Phil Ralston, whose team, now at 6-8, is trying to claw back to .500 status.

Geneva forward Dan Trimble was blazing hot from beyond the three-point stripe again early, hitting 5-of-9 attempts on his way to a game-high 28 points and 10 rebounds. He was aided by a solid effort from guard Phil Lorenz, in a starting role for the third straight game, with 19 points, four assists and four rebounds.

The Vikings needed all of that effort and more as Walther Lutheran stormed back from an 18-point third-quarter deficit to cut Geneva’s lead to two points with less than a minute remaining.

“We are having trouble closing the door, but we are getting better at it and we handled the pressure tonight,” Trimble said. “Phil (Lorenz) had a great game, and we were determined to win this one.”

Lorenz scored 8 of Geneva’s last 9 points, with four straight coming at the free-throw line in the last 30 seconds to preserve the win.

Walther Lutheran (3-7) closed to within 61-59 with about 35 seconds left on a three-pointer by Sean Cotton (team-high 23 points), but Broncos’ guard Jeff Walker was whistled for a flagrant foul in trying to get the ball away from Lorenz with 29.6 left in the game.

Lorenz sank his two free throws, and Geneva retained possession, and Will Doeckel sank one of two free throws after being fouled immediately. Lorenz answered a Chris Stevens basket with two foul shots to shut the door.

“The way the game changed, it put us back on our heels, but offensively, I liked the way we finished it,” Ralston said. “We had our backs pressed to the wall when they cut it to two, but the kids responded because when it has been a while since you got a win, you don’t want to give one away.”

Lorenz, who was still moving quickly after the game because he was in a hurry to go to the Bulls game that evening, echoed his coach’s thoughts.

“We were determined to win this one and really focused,” Lorenz said.

That was apparent in the early going as the Vikings bolted to an 11-2 lead in the opening minutes and stretched it to 21-11 as Trimble chalked up 14 points in the opening frame.

Geneva appeared on its way to a blowout victory when stretching the lead to 40-22 early in the third quarter, and still held a 47-37 lead entering the final quarter.

Walther Lutheran coach Al Lainio lamented his team’s inconsistent effort early in the season.

“This is happening for a reason,” Lainio said. “We play poorly for three quarters and then decide to turn it on and play with some urgency in the last quarter. Sometimes we come back and sometimes we don’t, but we just don’t play with any urgency early on.

“It’s very tough because we spend all of that energy trying to get back into the game,” Lainio added.

Geneva plays Chicago Hope at 2:30 p.m. today in the third round of pool play. A victory would push the Vikings into the third-place game of the tournament at 5:30 p.m. Thursday against the second place team of the opposing bracket. A loss today sends Geneva to the fifth place game at 4 p.m. Thursday.