St. Charles East snaps Geneva's 23-game home win streak
St. Charles East's boys basketball team played a game of role reversal Friday night.
A little more than a month ago, the Saints dropped a 62-44 decision to Geneva in St. Charles.
This time, the Saints (13-10, 7-3) exhibited an efficient, turnover-free offense and swarming, in-your-face defense during an impressive 55-42 Upstate Eight Conference River Division victory over the Vikings (20-6, 6-4) in Geneva.
The numbers tell the story - St. Charles East committed just 5 turnovers the entire game while shooting 57 percent from the field, including 67 percent (8 of 12) from 3-point range.
Defensively, the Saints forced 12 turnovers for the game while blanketing the Vikings' offense during a 13-2 second-quarter surge that enabled them to build a 29-13 halftime advantage.
"I thought we did play very well," said Saints coach Patrick Woods, whose team remains 2 games in back of division-leading Batavia with 2 games remaining. "There are things we can find and get better at but it was a great execution of our game plan defensively."
Senior forward Zach Hondlik and sophomore forward Justin Hardy fueled the Saints' defense. Hondlik supplied an emotional lift often from his backside, drawing 4 offensive fouls.
"Charges are big, especially for us," said Hondlik. "We've been emphasizing that a lot."
Meanwhile, Hardy, who scored a team-high 14 points, held Geneva leading scorer Bennett Fuzak to a season-low 4 points on just 4 shot attempts.
"Bennett is a great player but our game plan was to try and limit his opportunities to shoot the ball," said Hardy. "That worked out well for us."
Another thing that worked out well was the Saints' offensive production.
Led by Hardy, J.T. Ford (12 points), Zach Mitchell (9 points) and Hondlik, the Saints connected on their first five 3-point attempts - and finished at an astonishing 67 percent clip from beyond the arc (8-for-12).
"We got good looks," said Woods. "We were set."
Senior guard Evan DiLeonardi (9 points) scored 5 points during a 13-0 run that upped the Saints' lead to 27-11 late in the first half.
"We didn't take a lot of gambles or risks," said Woods. "We played a very patient game defensively and offensively. That's why we shot 57 percent from the field."
St. Charles East extended its lead to 20 early in the fourth quarter as they snapped the Vikings' 23-game home winning streak.
"We showed up with no energy," said Geneva coach Phil Ralston. "We didn't run the offense. The number one point of emphasis was to get the ball inside and how often did we get the ball inside? I think we got one post touch in the first half.
"Defensively and offensively, it was one of our poorer efforts of the season."