Downers South's depth wears down Geneva

Ziggy Riauka celebrated his 17th birthday in style Wednesday night, coming off the bench to score a team-leading 12 points to lift Downers Grove South past host Geneva 60-49 in Class 4A regional semifinal basketball action.

Riauka, a 6-foot-7 junior center who connected on 6-of-8 shots from the floor, received plenty of support from his fellow reserves. Senior forward Joey Biel and sophomore forward Kevin Honn combined with Riauka to outscore the Vikings' bench 28-9.

"I think the bench was a key because Bledi (Dervishi) got into foul trouble so we had to substitute a lot," said Riauka. "Our bench is really deep. We usually have 9 or 10 people playing."

Riauka, Biel and Honn netted 8 of the their team's 15 third-quarter points as the sixth-seeded Mustangs (18-9) extended a 28-24 halftime lead 43-34 heading into the final period.

"They're an athletic team and I think we just got tired," said Geneva senior Brandon Beitzel.

The trio also came up big in the fourth quarter, scoring 8 of the Mustangs' first 11 points. Honn's layup pushed Downers Grove South's lead back to double digits at 54-43 with 2 minutes remaining.

It enabled the Mustangs to fight off a potential Geneva rally that came up short in part because of the Vikings' second-half shooting woes both at the free-throw line (3-for-11) and from beyond the 3-point arc (2-for-14).

"We had that one stretch in the fourth quarter where it seemed like we were playing like we were behind (by) 11 instead of ahead," said Mustangs coach Jay Baum. "I chalk it up to a little bit of inexperience and maybe from the coach, too, but we righted the ship at the right time and we made some plays."

Geneva (19-10), which led 12-10 after one quarter and upped it to 15-10 when junior forward Dan Trimble banked in a 3-pointer early in the second period, committed 5 of its 7 second-quarter turnovers during the latter stages of the first half.

Biel ignited an 8-0 run with a pair of baskets as the Mustangs built a 28-21 lead with 39 seconds before halftime.

"We have some athletic kids and we can play a 1-3-1 half-court trap," said Baum. "It's usually something I've done in the past as a surprise or for a few minutes here, a few minutes there, but when it works why get out of it?

"That sort of gave them some fits in the first half."

Trimble led the 11th-seeded Vikings with 17 points and 8 rebounds, while Beitzel, 1 of 6 seniors playing their final game, added 9 points and 10 boards. Nolan Block and Michael Santacaterina (5 steals) finished with 8 points apiece.

"We missed a lot of easy shots underneath the basket and missed free throws probably due to some tired legs," said Geneva coach Phil Ralston. "The shots weren't falling underneath the basket and the shots weren't falling on the perimeter. It was just a tough battle for us tonight.

"They're just a talented team. We really had to have things go our way and make them play our game. But we just weren't able to do that."

Sophomores Jamall Millison and Otis Wilbut chipped in with 11 and 9 points, respectively, for the Mustangs, who face No. 3 seed Benet Academy (23-3) and 6-10 junior center Frank Kaminsky Friday night.

"We're going to have to play about a perfect game to beat them," said Baum.

Geneva battled through a rash of injuries to take second place in the Western Sun Conference.

"Any time you have a winning season it's a successful season," Beitzel said.

Ralston certainly agreed and credited his players' defensive work as a key reason why.

"If someone had told me that we would have dealt with the kind of stuff that we had (injuries, etc.), I would have told them they're absolutely crazy that we'd get 19 wins - especially because we had no returning starters from last year," Ralston said.

"A lot of it had to do with the fact that we had kids who worked their tails off on defense."