Geneva slows Batavia
The player Geneva boys basketball coach Phil Ralston suggested as his MVP Saturday scored but 6 points.
Ben Rogers limited Batavia’s dangerous Cole Gardner to 8 points, however, a key factor in Geneva’s 48-38 win over the Bulldogs in the “Rivals Game” of the 15th annual High School Hoops Showdown at Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates.
“The first thing written on our scouting report was if we can shut down Cole then we have a better chance of being successful. That was my focus,” said the 6-foot-2 Rogers, who gave up about 50 pounds to the 6-6, 240-pound Gardner — who still claimed 15 rebounds and blocked 3 shots.
“That was made clear from the beginning that was my job to shut him down,” Rogers said. “I got a lot of help, that’s for sure.”
By that Rogers meant a Gardner sandwich with him and John Swiderski, Drew White, Mark Becker, Connor Chapman — or whomever was in the vicinity.
“That was pretty much our whole game plan, was to try to make sure that we covered their shooters, but make sure that we denied Gardner the ball and when he did catch it, to make sure that he had two guys right next to him,” Ralston said.
Batavia’s Zach Strittmatter scored a game-high 23 points in the Upstate Eight Conference River Division contest, but Geneva’s balanced approach prevailed.
Brendan Leahy and Ryan Willing each scored 12 points, Mike Trimble scored 9 on three 3-pointers, then came Rogers’ 6 and Phil Lorenz with 5.
“They had great defense, it was a great job,” Gardner said. “Zach stepped up huge, though. That was what really kept us in the game. If we can have people like that step up then defense won’t really matter.”
Batavia (4-11, 1-5) didn’t have enough of them on this night. Strittmatter and Gardner combined for 10 of the Bulldogs’ 12 field goals, and they went 1-for-12 from the 3-point arc. One try was Gardner’s desperation heave in the last second of the first half, Geneva up 21-14.
“We did not do a consistent enough job of reversing the basketball,” said Bulldogs coach Jim Roberts. “If you keep it on one side of the floor a great deal of time that kind of feeds into it. We’ve got to do a better job reversing the basketball and, as a result, get some more offensive input.”
Batavia’s last lead was 6-4 midway in the first quarter. Willing dug in, converting one three-point play and driving for another basket in a first quarter the Vikings led 11-9.
Consecutive three-point plays by Gardner and a Strittmatter jumper pulled Batavia within 23-22 at 4:56 of the third quarter, but Geneva (10-7, 5-1) again countered. The Vikings went on a 9-0 run as Trimble canned one 3-pointer from the left side of the arc and another from the right.
“We felt like we could get whatever we wanted,” Willing said. “We felt that we could dissect them if they guarded us man-to-man or in the zone. “
Geneva entered the fourth quarter holding a 36-25 lead. While Batavia went 8 of 14 from the foul line in the fourth, Geneva held the Bulldogs at bay with 10-of-13 foul shooting.
As far as playing in the Hoops Showdown in the big arena, Ralston seemed to get a kick out of it. He hoped his players did, too.
“It’s something that I hope our young men remember for a lifetime,” he said.