Geneva snaps skid, beats BC

The Geneva Vikings avoided laying a holiday tournament egg by notching their first victory Thursday in the Chuck Dayton Holiday Tournament in DeKalb, rolling past Burlington Central 71-56.

In a contest plagued by fouls, Geneva used the free-throw line to snap its two-game skid in tournament play, hitting 27 of 33 for the game. Eight different players scored from the free-throw line in the second quarter when the Vikings hit 18-of-18 and built double-digit leads.

The foul trouble hit Central the hardest when standout point guard Mike McCurdy was whistled with his fourth foul midway through the second quarter and sat on the bench the rest of the half.

Max Cary led Geneva (9-4) with 21 points, while Alex Turnowchyk added 15.

Central (6-3) lost for the second time in the tournament and was never able to recover from a 41-25 halftime deficit. Geneva took advantage of its taller frontline players by going to an inside game in the second half. Jeremy D'Amico cashed in his 11 points down low, and Geneva also built up an overall 42-16 rebounding edge. Chris Jordan, the tallest player on either team at 6-foot-5, had a game-high 11 rebounds.

McCurdy led Central with 20 points, but Geneva had two or three defenders blanketing him when he came near the basket most of the night. The only other Rocket in double figures was Jake McNutt, who popped three 3-pointers on his way to 10 points.

"He is such a great player,'' Geneva coach Tim Pease said of McCurdy. "You have to really be aware of where he is on the floor.''

Pease admitted that the number of fouls in the game made it hard for his team to get in any kind of rhythm.

"I'm sure it was the same for him (Central coach Chris Payne) and it was really hard to tell what we were doing well and what we weren't,'' Pease added.

The game wasn't as close as the final score indicates, as Central tallied 17 of the game's final 21 points after both teams brought in reserves.

Geneva enjoyed leads of 20 or more points throughout most of the second half.

Geneva plays Jefferson at 3:30 p.m. Friday, while Central plays at 9 a.m. in the DeKalb tournament and then turns around to play a 3 p.m. game against Oregon at the United Center.