Bench strength benefits Geneva in finale

Playing its fourth game in as many days, Geneva's basketball team received a well-timed boost from its bench Friday afternoon.

Reserves Phil Lorenz, Mike Trimble, Drew White and Ben Rogers combined for 28 points, 8 rebounds, 5 steals and 3 blocked shots to help lift the Vikings (7-6) to a 49-38 victory over Belvidere North (6-8) in the fifth-place game of the 46th annual East Aurora Holiday Tournament.

Trailing 20-15 after Gentijan Mehmedi (15 points) connected on his third 3-pointer of the second quarter, the Vikings closed out the period with an 8-0 run to grab a 23-20 halftime advantage.

Lorenz, who finished with 13 points in his fourth game back from an injury (broken finger), hit a pull-up jumper to narrow the deficit to 20-19 before White's bucket inside a few moments later gave Geneva its first lead of the game.

Rogers then added an all-important hustle play right before halftime. His steal in the backcourt with 2.4 seconds left helped draw a foul that led to a pair of free throws with no time remaining on the clock.

Lorenz, Trimble and White combined for 9 of the team's 11 third-quarter points, as the Vikings upped their lead to 34-29.

After Belvidere North cut the lead to 34-31 on a pair of free throws by Jake Boxleitner, Geneva answered with 8 straight points, highlighted by Lorenz's 3-pointer from the corner and Trimble's driving layup.

"He did a lot of nice things tonight," Geneva coach Phil Ralston said of Lorenz. "It was kind of like, 'Welcome back, Phil.' You see how much we've missed a little of that spark that he provides both offensively and defensively.

"There were a lot of positives for us in this game," added Ralston. "It was nice to see Mike Trimble knock down a couple threes. Clearly, they weren't recognizing him as a shooter."

Senior Brendan Leahy paced the Vikings with 16 points on 8-of-9 shooting from the floor.

"He had a tremendous game," said Ralston. "He was probably our team MVP. He was aggressive enough against them and smart enough to recognize when he had good opportunities to drive to the basket."

Trimble added 9 points as Geneva finished with a 28-4 edge from its bench.

"Seeing a different opponent with a little different style, I knew Coach would need me to come in there and hit some big shots," said Trimble. "Now I've got to start creating more shots instead of waiting for the wide-open ones."

Ralston was pleased to see his team's readiness after suffering back-to-back blowout losses at the hands of state-ranked Peoria Central (55-30) and Kentucky's Pleasure Ridge Park (76-50).

"Playing that Pleasure Ridge team and Peoria Central is like getting hit by a train not once but twice," said Ralston. "Our guys had a great attitude before the game. They had a smile on their face and they were excited to play basketball today."

Geneva, which visits Larkin Jan. 6, finished the tourney with a 2-2 record.

"I know it's an eight-team tournament but it's a little bit of a buzz-saw," said Ralston. "To say that we walked out 2-2, I'm OK with that."