Twists and turns continue in River race
After losing to St. Charles East and St. Charles North on back-to-back nights last week, Streamwood coach Tim Jones was asked to handicap the Upstate Eight Conference River Division race.
“When you talk about experience and overall it still is Elgin but St. Charles North is not very far behind,” Jones said. “East is getting better and Geneva is solid. It’s hard to say.”
It’s even harder to say now. It was a race Elgin was expected to control as the season began. The Maroons won last year’s title and returned their core.
But the race keeps getting tighter especially after St. Charles East’s 65-63 win over Elgin last Friday and Geneva’s 53-42 victory over St. Charles North the same night.
Perhaps more clarity will emerge after Wednesday night’s action with a full slate of games highlighted by St. Charles North traveling to St. Charles East.
Both the North Stars and Saints are 7-3 in conference. Geneva sits at 6-2 and hosts Larkin (5-4) while Elgin (5-3) welcomes Batavia.
Despite a nonconference loss at Quincy Saturday, the Vikings should be feeling good about themselves after snapping St. Charles North’s 4-game win streak Friday night.
“It was huge for us,” 6-foot-5 junior Connor Chapman said. “Our goal is definitely to win conference. We knew we had to come here and get this one. We have a couple big games coming up and hope we can take that one too.”
Senior Brendan Leahy led Geneva with 17 points against St. Charles North. The Vikings have four conference games left with Larkin at home and St. Charles North, Batavia and Elgin on the road.
Geneva can clinch no worse than a share of the championship by winning three of those four.
“Now we are coming down to the home stretch of the conference season and to still have share of the lead is really good for us,” Leahy said. “We’re just going to keep going.”
Ralston, whose Geneva sophomore team also beat St. Charles North last Friday and sits undefeated in first place in conference, knows there is a lot of basketball left to go.
“It’s nice for us to be in first place but we can only take it one game at a time,” Ralston said. “The last thing we are thinking about is what is down the road. We are just happy to be there. I doubt many people would have put us to be there at this point of the season where we are at.”
Welcome back Ryan, goodbye Ben: Geneva got a lift with the return of Ryan Willing against St. Charles North. The 5-foot-10 senior guard came off the bench with 9 points after being questionable for the game with an ankle injury.#147;You couldn#146;t tell he did anything last week,#148; Ralston said. #147;He looked good tonight. He was feeling it (the ankle) at the end. We probably played him a little too much but he did a great job of handling the ball and keeping us in our offense. He had a gutty performance.#148;Unfortunately the way things have been going for a lot of teams it seems, as soon as Willing returned senior starter Ben Rogers was in street clothes Friday with his right foot in a walking boot.Ralston wasn#146;t sure when he#146;ll get his glue guy back.#147;Probably miss him at least a week and then evaluate,#148; Ralston said. #147;Honestly don#146;t know. I feel bad for Ben, he#146;s been one of our defensive stoppers and I#146;m sure St. Charles North was happy he wasn#146;t in the lineup but we had other people get it done. (Mark) Becker did a great job early and (Phil) Lorenz did a great job late.#148;Cooler heads prevail: While St. Charles North has 13 losses, coach Tom Poulin had not seen his team lose its cool like it did at Geneva culminating with a double technical foul for Quinten Payne (and Geneva#146;s John Swiderski) late in the game.#147;I thought we got emotional,#148; Poulin said. #147;We let the officiating affect us. We broke apart instead of coming together and that#146;s something this group has not done all year no matter what situation we#146;ve been in so it#146;s disappointing.#148;The North Stars won#146;t have to wait long to prove their mettle in another highly charged atmosphere, this time Wednesday night at St. Charles East in a must-win game for both teams.And you can beat their rematch against Geneva Saturday will be another intense, physical matchup.#147;We#146;ll be ready to go next week when we see them,#148; Poulin said. #147;Next time we get Geneva they will get our best game. We have done that all year bounced back form adversity.#148;Rivalry night: Aurora Christian coach Steve Hanson made sure to use the standing room crowd for his team#146;s game at Aurora Central on Saturday night as motivation.#147;We put on the board before the game this is what it#146;s all about,#148; Hanson said. #147;If you can#146;t enjoy this one you might not as well strap them up. Rivalry game, big crowd, it#146;s packed. We know its going to be close. Let#146;s go out and enjoy it.#148;That the Eagles did, winning 61-58 in overtime after overcoming a 6-point deficit midway through the fourth quarter to improve to 17-5.#147;It showed a lot of character because no one had their head down and no one had a doubt,#148; sixth man Cory Windle said. #147;People might have had their heads down at some points but they knew how to finish.#148;On the other hand: Finishing has been the No. 1 problem for Nate Drye#146;s Aurora Central team.That 61-58 loss marked the fourth straight for the Chargers of a game they led in the fourth quarter. As a result they are 7-13 right now instead of perhaps 11-9.#147;We#146;re feeling a lot different about the season if we make a couple plays down the stretch of each one of those,#148; Drye said. #147;We#146;re not far off. We have to cut down on the mistakes.#148;Drye certainly was encouraged by the play of senior big man Robert DeMyers who went 6-of-6 at the free-throw line on his way to game highs of 18 points, 12 rebounds and 3 blocked shots.#147;I thought Robert was terrific tonight,#148; Drye said. #147;That was his best game since he#146;s been back (from a leg injury). I thought he dominated in there. I thought he was the best player on the floor and had a terrific game. If he can play at that level and the other guys can pick it up we#146;ll be all right. Everyone has to fill in around him.#148; Playing with the big boys: While Aurora Central#146;s girls team opens play this week as the No. 1 seed in the Class 2A Plano regional, Drye#146;s boys program remains in the 3A tournament.That#146;s because of the Chargers#146; past success at 3A which included reaching the supersectional last year at Northern Illinois.While playing 2A postseason might help the Chargers make a longer run, Drye is glad for the IHSA rule that keeps Aurora Central in the 3A field.#147;I#146;d rather play in 3A,#148; Drye said. #147;I think we are a 3A team. I have no desire to play in 2A. Our kids are ready for it. Our record is going to be bad going into it but I think we#146;ll be battle tested and we#146;ll be ready. We#146;re right there in every game.#148;