St. Charles East stifles Geneva to close in on .500
How ironic Ron Johnson was in the house.
Geneva inducted its 10th Athletic Hall of Fame class at halftime of its boys basketball game against St. Charles East on Saturday. Drawing the ceremony's loudest ovation was Johnson, Geneva Class of 1950, who went on to win 602 games in 32 years at St. Charles.
A couple may have looked like this, but probably only a couple: St. Charles East made no fourth-quarter field goals, scored only 12 points in the second half and it was good enough to win the nonconference game 39-34.
"It was definitely a defensive battle there in the second half and especially in the fourth quarter," said St. Charles East guard Drew Vazquez, who notched 4 of his 8 points on free throws in the last 16.4 seconds. "We found a way to win, and we were able to knock down some free throws when it counted."
It was a frustrating game for Geneva, the Vikings' 17 turnovers signifying a week in which only five players practiced every day due to primarily due to injuries both acute and nagging.
Still, as Vikings coach Phil Ralston told his team - twice - coming out of the third quarter break trailing 34-25, "No more excuses."
"Even when we were doing some things well defensively we could never capitalize on it because it was just a train wreck at the other end," said Ralston, whose club fell to 14-7. "This is not about effort, it's just being on the same page with one another."
St. Charles East (9-10) started on fire, freshman Kendall Stephens canning a pair of 3's and Colton Kumerow hitting another to lead the Saints to an 18-6 lead after the first quarter. Meanwhile, Geneva made 1 of 11 shots.
Geneva forward Dan Trimble, who's battled an abdominal pull for weeks, heated up with 9 of his game-high 15 points in the second quarter to get the Vikings within 27-20 at halftime.
St. Charles East's 1-2-2 and 2-3 zone defenses held Geneva to 1 third quarter field goal - the Vikings shot 10 of 47 from the floor on the night - for a 34-25 Saints lead entering the final quarter.
Geneva crept in. Brandon Beitzel got whacked hitting a 3-pointer from the left corner and made the foul shot. Trimble went 1-of-2 from the line pulling the Vikings within 34-30 with 3:32 left to play.
Over the next two minutes Geneva forced 4 turnovers - steals by Trimble and Nolan Block plus Saints 5- and 10-second violations - but missed four 3-pointers and turned it over themselves.
Spencer Motley's free throw gave St. Charles East a 35-30 lead with 48.6 seconds to play. Ralston took a timeout to plot.
The plan was negated by the Saints' Jess Striedl who tipped a Vikings pass to teammate Charlie Fisher, leading to Vazquez's first 2 free throws and a 37-30 edge.
"As long as it was always a two-possession game I believed in my kids," said Saints coach Brian Clodi.
"We're starting to learn how to close out games, with the right shot selection," he said. "We got the ball to the right guy - he goes to the free throw line and he makes four for four. That was by design, and give him credit for going there."
Consecutive putbacks by Geneva's Michael Santacaterina and Trimble had the Vikings within 37-34 with 4.6 seconds left, but 2 more Vazquez free throws nailed down the Saints' victory.
Definitely a successful first varsity start of the season for St. Charles East's Kumerow, who scored a team-high 10 points. Stephens followed with 9.
"The coach finally gave me the start, and I ended up performing," said Kumerow, a senior guard. "I'm so happy."