Geneva comes out blazing, puts away Rockford E.

The Geneva boys basketball team had little trouble rising and shining in Monday's 9 a.m. game against Rockford East.

The Vikings soared ahead by as many as 24 points and then tolerated a shaky fourth quarter to beat the E-Rabs, 61-50, in pool play in the 82nd Chuck Dayton Basketball Tournament at DeKalb.

"We really came out like game busters and built a big lead and fortunately for us that was good enough to be able to win the game," Geneva coach Phil Ralston said. "I was happy with our play for two-and-a-half to three quarters but that's not exactly the way I want to finish out a game."

Geneva (9-2) seemingly had the game in hand with a 56-32 lead and under 7 minutes remaining. But, the alarm clock seemingly finally went off for Rockford East, which awakened with a 14-0 run to make it a 56-46 contest with 3:11 left.

"We've got to be better disciplined, take care of the ball and run our offense," Ralston said. "We tried to give guys a chance to play and the next thing you know we're playing on our heels rather than to win a game."

Rockford East (2-8) would crack the deficit to single digits at 59-50 with under a minute left, but the Vikings were able to seal the victory.

Nolan Block led the Vikings with 16 points, but just as important was his ability to help the team run its offense.

Moving without the ball, setting screens, and stretching the defense with a potent 3-point attack, the Vikings jumped ahead to a 22-11 lead after one quarter and a comfortable 15-point advantage at halftime.

"Coach wanted us to come out with heart and on fire and put them away and that's what we did," Block said. "We tried to kick it inside, drive and dish, and that plays into our outside game."

The Vikings scored all 6 of their 3-pointers in the opening half.

Reducing the number of second-chance opportunities for the E-Rabs also proved key for the Vikings, who enjoyed a 26-19 rebounding edge. Scott Wendt led the way with 8 while also contributing 9 points.

Brandon Beitzel, Will Doeckel and Connor Quinn each scored 7 points for Geneva.

Geneva now has an opportunity of going undefeated in pool play when it faces Huntley at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

"I guess the silver lining to this is that we know we're capable of having an explosive output when we do what we do well," Ralston said. "When we choose not to do that then we can look just as average as anyone else."