Willing shoots Geneva past Streamwood
He drilled 3-pointers, scored on driving layups, dished off nifty passes for assists and played solid defense.
All of Ryan Willing's skills were on display Wednesday night in Streamwood.
Scoring a career-high 23 points with four 3-pointers, 5 assists and 4 steals, the Geneva senior guard keyed the Vikings to a 56-41 road Upstate Eight Conference River Division win over the host Sabres.
"Ryan had a great game," said Geneva coach Phil Ralston. "It was a career high for scoring for him but he had some nice assists and he played solid defense. He got us going early."
Willing, who was 8-of-12 from the field and 4-of-6 from 3-point land, scored 17 points during the first 16 minutes of the game as the Vikings led 35-16 at intermission,
"Coach stressed to us that we come out strong and play with a lot of intensity and we did," said Willing. "My teammates did a great job of getting me the ball in great position to score. I felt great tonight. It felt like there was a huge hole in the basket. Any win on the road win in this conference is big."
Geneva (3-3, 2-0), which never trailed in the game, broke out of the gate fast, leading 10-2 with 4:33 left in the first quarter. With Willing scoring 6 points, the Vikes led by 8 early and the Sabres could never catch up.
Leading 21-7 after 8 minutes, the Vikes seized their biggest lead of the game at 30-9 with 2:46 before the half on a layup by Drew White.
Scorching the nets for 73 percent (13-of-18) from the floor in the first half, Geneva held a 19-point halftime cushion.
Streamwood did get within 13 of the Vikings, 50-37, after a basket by Kyle Strong with 4 minutes left in the contest, but couldn't get any closer.
Brendan Leahy backed Willing with 11 points for the winners. Streamwood (2-6, 0-2) was led by Joel Lightbourne with 11 while Strong scored 10.
"We got outplayed, out-coached and out-hustled tonight," said Streamwood coach Tim Jones. "We have to sharpen a lot of things. Their guards Willing and Leahy are very good players who hurt us tonight. It is tough to make athletes into basketball players but we are working at it."