Boys basketball: Sophomore Rogers scores 28 as WW South cruises past Geneva
Sophomore AJ Rogers and his Wheaton Warrenville South teammates squirted coach Mike Healy with their water bottles following Thursday’s DuKane Conference game against visiting Geneva.
Healy was only a little damp upon emerging from the locker room.
The same could not be said for Geneva after Rogers rained 3-pointers from the outset. He sank his first three shots, including a pair of 3-pointers to help the Tigers score the game’s first nine points.
It was just the prelude to a stunning rout. Rogers finished with a personal-high 28 points and also led all players with seven rebounds and four steals as the Tigers beat the Vikings 67-37 in Wheaton.
With the win the Tigers (15-8, 7-2) took over sole possession of the DuKane lead. They lead Geneva (18-4, 6-2) and Glenbard North (17-5, 6-2) by a half-game and Batavia (15-8, 6-2) by one game.
“The past couple weeks we’ve really been talking about ‘we,’ not ‘me,’ and working as a team,” Rogers said. “We stepped up the intensity in practice a lot and really got our heads right.
“We worked on always staying level-headed. There’s going to be ups and downs and we can’t let one error lead to another. We did all that today.”
Indeed, the Tigers looked like world beaters against a Geneva team that was riding a seven-game winning streak and had beaten WW South 61-51 in the teams’ first meeting on Dec. 10.
“We’ve all made some adjustments, but they’ve been locked in the last week or so,” Healy said. “We talked about how our schedule is challenging and the games that we’ve played hopefully prepare us for this type of game situation.”
The Tigers were prepared and once they saw that Rogers was hot, they kept feeding him the ball. The 6-foot-2 forward made 10 of 16 shots and was 5 of 6 from the free-throw line.
“AJ has got one gear and so does his brother (senior Zach),” Healy said. “Their gear is to go as hard as they possibly can at all times.
“AJ’s skill has gotten better and the guys trust him. He’s a confident kid. He does not play like a sophomore.”
Rogers was a force all over the court. He shot from outside and dominated near the rim while also playing a key role in the Tigers’ defense, which helped coax 18 turnovers.
“I just want to be in the right spot,” Rogers said. “I trust my teammates to give me the ball, and they did.”
Rogers’ first quarter was his best from a scoring standpoint, but it was actually WW South’s worst. The Tigers led 9-5 after one quarter, then began the second with a 10-0 run as Ethan Farrell drained a 3-pointer and Rogers followed with seven straight points.
The Vikings, who got 11 points apiece from Nathan Palmer and David Udoiwood, pulled within 19-15 when Palmer banked in a 3 with 3:41 left in the first half. They trailed 27-20 at halftime.
“I actually thought for how poorly we played offensively, to only be down by seven at halftime … but we just got outplayed,” Geneva coach Scott Hennig said. “They played really well and we didn’t play well at all.”
Geneva’s backcourt of Palmer, Gabe Jensen and Dane Turner combined to shoot 7 for 26 and the Vikings were 12 of 44 overall. The Tigers, meanwhile, were 24 for 48 and shot 12 of 14 from the line.
Junior David Showman had seven of his 16 points in the third quarter, during which the Tigers outscored the Vikings 22-8 to pull away. Farrell added nine points and four boards.
“Credit to Wheaton South,” Hennig said. “They’re really good. The young Rogers kid played well.”
Rogers, whose previous best was 23 points, said the entire team played well.
“Today we just clicked,” Rogers said. “I don’t think we’ve clicked all year and today we all clicked and worked together and got a big win.”