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Geneva's role players shine bright

Take a 15.3 points-per-game scorer off a team that only averages 47.5 points a game to begin with and how in the world is Geneva going to score enough to beat Batavia?

By getting everyone involved, and by watching one player after another step up and hit big shots.

Playing without Dan Trimble, who suffered a concussion last Friday in the fourth quarter against St. Charles East and has now missed the Quincy and Batavia games with no return date set, the Vikings used a true team effort to beat Batavia 58-46 in overtime Thursday.

“I thought given the circumstances this was a tremendous effort for our team,” Geneva coach Phil Ralston said. “This was one of those games where we had effort and execution. We certainly needed it tonight without our horse.

“We told our kids coming into this game they had a chance to step it up, that they (Batavia) could be back on their heals with Trimble out of the game and think they had a cakewalk. We wanted to show up, we had nothing to lose and everything to gain.”

While the Vikings put the defensive clamps on Batavia, several players took turns making plays offensively.

That's just the way Ralston likes it.

“We are an equal opportunity offense,” Ralston said. “Everyone has their chance to shoot, everyone has their chance to post. We want guys to pass and catch and look for good opportunities.”

That they did. In taking control of the game in the second quarter, Ryan Willing drove through Batavia's defense for a twisting scoop. Willing connected on a floater on another trip.

Marcus Stierwalt made a nifty up-and-under move to free himself for a 14-footer just before the second quarter buzzer. Brendan Leahy drove baseline and scored on a reverse layup in the third. Big man Brad Bernhard stepped out and knocked down a 17-foot jumper.

“I thought all our guys did a great job playing their roles,” Ralston said. “We had buy-in. When you get buy-in from a team you can accomplish great things.”

Leahy finished with 13 points, Stierwalt had 11 off the bench and Dan Hince 10. Geneva's bench outscored Batavia's 20-5.

“We had a lot of guys step up big off our bench,” Hince said. “I think that was the key to our win. We had a lot of energy off our bench, a lot of rebounding and people playing really hard.”

Did Batavia relax at all knowing Geneva was missing its best player?

“I hope not,” Batavia coach Jim Roberts said. “It's like anything else. Geneva had their back to the wall and came out and played that way. If that's the case (overlooking Geneva), hopefully we learned a lesson but I would hope that it's not. He's (Trimble) a fine player, he can do a lot of things, but they have other players.”

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