Fuzak's 34 propels Geneva past St. Charles North

Geneva took somewhat of a backward approach to basketball Tuesday night.

Beginning the game by making its first five 3-point attempts in the first 4-plus minutes, the Vikings' boys team appeared to use an outside-inside game plan early on against St. Charles North's 2-3 zone defense.

Utilizing their superior height and length advantage, the Vikings (12-3, 3-2) returned to an inside-outside approach during a 16-6 third-quarter surge that enabled them to pull away for a 62-45 Upstate Eight Conference River Division victory in Geneva.

"That's not usually how we like to work it but …" Vikings coach Phil Ralston said as his team attempted more than half (14) of its first-half shots (27) from beyond the 3-point arc.

Geneva pounded it inside during a 6-0 run in the first 2 minutes of the third quarter, as Sean Chambers (5 points) scored on a feed from Bennett Fuzak before Cole Navigato's layup extended the lead to 33-24.

"The first two plays of the second half, we went inside," said Ralston. "Our emphasis (at halftime) was to look at the mismatches we have inside. We really wanted to exploit that against their zone.

"We figured if we could keep (North Stars forward Griffin) Hammer occupied, then other guys attack either slicing in the lane or having Bennett (Fuzak) try to post up on him. I thought Bennett did a phenomenal job of that."

Fuzak did a phenomenal job of pretty much everything against the North Stars (3-8, 1-4), scoring a game-high 34 points on 9 of 14 shooting from the field, including five 3-pointers, and 11 of 13 accuracy at the free-throw line. He also added 10 rebounds.

"I was feeling it in the (St. Charles) East game (Saturday) - getting my shot back," said Fuzak, who missed several games with a concussion. "My teammates found me tonight - a lot of credit to them. I just happened to make the shots."

Fuzak came out smoking at the outset, connecting on his first four 3-point attempts. He had 12 points in barely 4 minutes of action.

St. Charles North also came out firing, hitting four 3-pointers of its own. Nine of the game's first 10 baskets were from beyond the arc.

"I'll quote one of the refs, 'I thought it was a game of H-O-R-S-E,' " said Ralston. "It kind of looked like that for a little bit."

Geneva built a 43-30 lead after 3 quarters before the North Stars made a run.

Back-to-back 3-pointers from Hammer (12 points) and Mikey Schroeder enabled North to pull within 49-43 with 3:09 remaining.

However, the Vikings put the game away with a 10-0 run that included 6 more points from Fuzak.

"He started hot and then he was just more physical inside and more assertive with his offensive post-ups than we were defensively," said North Stars coach Tom Poulin.

Armon Osborne led St. Charles North with 13 points.