Geneva 72, Sycamore 66
Tim Pease probably can think of worse things than having his Geneva boys basketball team likened to an undefeated NCAA team that is ranked No. 2 in the country.
"I want to compare it to Memphis in that they take shots and then go get it," Sycamore coach Jeff Hillmor said after watching the Vikings grab 20 offensive rebounds while out-rebounding his team by 15 Friday night in Geneva.
"It's almost part of the offense. They take a lot of quick shots and then hustle and go get it. We talked about it but it's hard to replicate that in practice. They are going to throw up shots. They don't care if they make them, because they are going to go get them and get a second chance. They did a great job of out-hustling us, especially in the first half."
Hillmor said those words after Geneva built a 13-point third-quarter lead, then held off the Spartans' charge to win 72-66.
After a slow start missing its first 7 shots and scoring 10 points in the first quarter, Geneva was back to its normal fast-paced self, albeit more with second-chance points than an array of 3-pointers.
The Vikings scored 19, 19 and 24 points in the final three quarters. Chris Jordan led the way , scoring 18 of his career-high 26 points in the second half.
Pease said it wasn't the prettiest win, but an important one. Geneva (11-5, 6-1) stayed tied with Batavia for the Western Sun Conference lead while Sycamore fell to 8-4, 1-3.
"We told the guys it has to be something else if our perimeter shots aren't going in," Pease said. "We have to get second-chance points, something going to the basket, find a way to manufacture some offense. For awhile it looked like we were playing with oven mittens on."
Jordan also led the Vikings with 13 rebounds. Jeremy D'Amico added 9 boards, Max Cary 6 and Alex Turnowchyk 5.
"We got a lot of second shots early," Jordan said. "We kept running the floor and using that to our advantage. We weren't shooting the ball real well so we thought, let's just drive the ball to the basket and kept running."
Geneva opened its biggest lead at 40-27 in the third quarter. The Spartans pulled within 48-45 entering the fourth quarter, then quickly tied the game at 48 -- the first tie since 4-4.
The Spartans eventually took their only lead of the night 55-54 on a free throw by Joshua Howells with 4:09 remaining. Howells made five 3-pointers in the second half and led the Spartans with 16 points.
Geneva took the lead for good 59-57 on D'Amico's 2 free throws with 3:10 remaining.
D'Amico also converted a 3-point play on an assist from Cary with 59 seconds left, then knocked down two key free throws with 28 seconds that pushed Geneva's lead back to two possessions at 70-66.
"They are a team that just keeps fighting," Pease said. "You tip your hat to them for not giving up. I'm glad to see we didn't let them get all the way back. There was very little rhythm for us offensively."
After the Spartans hit 1 of 5 three-point shots in the first half, they buried 7 of 10 in the second half. Geneva was just 3 of 19 from beyond the arc, including one from Cary that beat the second-quarter buzzer and put Geneva ahead 29-21 at halftime.
"We were kind of rusty tonight," Jordan said. "It happens. It was kind of sloppy but we just wanted to pull out a win.
"The inside was open so we just took advantage of it. We were off on the perimeter so we had to establish something in there."
Cary followed Jordan with 19 points, 3 steals and 2 blocked shots. D'Amico scored 7 of his 11 in the second half while Turnowchyk added 10 points.
"Chris Jordan was big tonight," Pease said. "Did a nice job against that big young man from Sycamore. We kept challenging Chris to get to the basket. We felt he could beat that kid down the court. His teammates did a nice job of finding him."