Geneva holds off Streamwood

To continue enjoying its lofty status in first place in the Upstate Eight River Division, the Geneva boys’ basketball team couldn’t let a struggling Streamwood team snatch a victory Wednesday night on the Vikings’ home court.

Streamwood proved to be a worthy opponent, but the Vikings parlayed an 11-0 edge at the free-throw line and some key baskets after loose ball scrambles to outlast the Sabres 45-41.

Brendan Leahy led Geneva with 18 points, including four free throws in the game’s final minute, with two of those coming with 5.2 seconds left to seal the win after Streamwood crept with 43-41 on a Dalton Lundeen 3-pointer a second earlier.

Geneva (11-7, 6-1) survived six missed free throws in the final quarter because Ryan Willing blocked two Streamwood shots down the stretch. Phil Lorenz, who scored 5 of his 8 points in the fourth quarter, converted one of those blocks into a key fastbreak layup.

“Streamwood really gave us a good shot and they are a very different team from the first time we played them,” Geneva coach Phil Ralston said. “We did some nice things defensively, but our rebounding was not very stellar and we missed free throws at the end.

“It’s not what you like to see to close out a game, but sometimes when you are not playing your best and still get a win, you’ll take it,” Ralston added.

Geneva held a 17-14 lead at halftime, as neither team was able to find many open shots against tight man-to-man defenses. The Vikings rotated defenders on Sabre guard Brandon Larkin-Guilfoyle, staying in man defense or a box-and-one with a defender shadowing the Streamwood sharpshooter, who finished with only 4 points in the game.

“A key for us was being able to shut down Larkin-Guilfoyle,” Ralston said. “Still, we just couldn’t seem to put them away, and that’s a credit to Streamwood.”

Guard Brent Kiesel was a major reason Streamwood (4-15, 1-6) was able to hang within striking distance. Kiesel came off the bench to bury four 3-pointers before fouling out midway through the fourth quarter.

A wild loose ball scramble which ended with Viking forward Ben Rogers scoring a layup and drawing a foul for a three-point play late in the third quarter gave Geneva a 29-23 lead. The play allowed Geneva to keep Streamwood at arm’s length up until the game’s final minute.

The Vikings opened their biggest lead of the night at 41-33 on a backdoor layup by Lorenz with just over two minutes left.

“They played tough and we weren’t getting much out of our offense, but we got baskets out of transition and loose balls,” Lorenz said. “They were hustle plays, so we scored with free throws and scrappy points.”

But Streamwood wouldn’t back down, clawing back into the game when Larkin-Guilfoyle converted his only points in the lane and Jacob Siewart tossed in a 3-pointer to trim Geneva’s lead to 43-38 with 35 seconds left.

When Geneva turned over the ball on its next possession, Lundeen banged down his 3-pointer from deep in the corner with 6 seconds left, leaving Leahy to finish the game off with his free throws.

“We missed some free throws at the end, but the team has a lot of confidence in me,” Leahy said his winning charity tosses. “We did bring a lot of energy out on the floor today and we did get those loose balls.

“We weren’t happy with our rebounding, but a lot of guys were looking backdoor and getting points that way,” Leahy added.

Streamwood enjoyed a 28-17 rebounding edge, with Joel Lightbourne pulling down a game-high 8.

Streamwood coach Tim Jones was happy with his team’s overall effort, but he knew Geneva’s defense was tough to crack.

“It’s a tribute to what Geneva does with its box-and-one,” Jones said. “They cover your best scorer, and we needed someone else to step up and make shots. We had some guys hit some shots finally, and those threes are real huge when you have guys who can hit them.”

For now, Ralston will enjoy the view from atop the conference standings. But he’s glad Streamwood is off the schedule for the season.

“Streamwood is a much-improved team and they are going to beat some more people in our conference before this is over,” Ralston said.