Geneva enjoys paying back DeKalb
The Western Sun Conference has vanished, Geneva will no longer spend its Christmas break at the DeKalb tournament, and yet the Vikings and Barbs still can't get away from each other.
Chalk that up as a good thing for Geneva. The teams met Wednesday at the Hoops for Healing Tournament at Oswego, giving the Vikings a chance to avenge a pair of last-second losses last year that cost them the WSC title won by the Barbs.
Dan Trimble bounced back from a tough shooting night in Tuesday's loss to Oswego East with 29 points in Geneva's 73-49 victory. After playing for the title the past two years, Geneva (2-1) will be in the third-place game at 3 p.m. Friday against Waubonsie Valley.
Of course, these aren't the same Geneva and DeKalb teams that battled so hard last year with former Barbs center Jordan Threloff redshirting at Illinois State. That didn't make the win any less pleasing for Vikings coach Phil Ralston.
“I've got a long memory,” Ralston said. “Those two losses we took to them last year both on last-second plays, I gave them kudos at the time but man alive there's a lot of sleep lost over those two losses. It was nice to see our kids step up and respond.”
Trimble poured in 21 of his 29 points in the second half. That included a stretch of three straight 3-pointers after DeKalb had trimmed an 18-point third quarter deficit to 54-47 with 4:43 remaining.
“We kind of stopped attacking in the fourth quarter,” Geneva senior guard Dan Hince said. “When you have a guy that can shoot like that you have to get him the ball, especially crunch time in the fourth quarter we need our best players the ball in their hands.
“I think he's one of best shooters in the state.”
Trimble, a 6-foot-8 senior, shook off a rare poor shooting night Tuesday when he hit just 1 of 9 three-point attempts in a 52-49 loss to Oswego East.
Despite two early fouls, Trimble found his rhythm with five 3-pointers Wednesday. Ralston was just as impressed with the way Trimble worked inside for a couple easier baskets.
“Last night was very uncharacteristic, it's nice to see he didn't hesitate tonight,” Ralston said. “It's good he responded and had the confidence to do that. It's nice to see how well he played especially in that stretch of the fourth quarter.”
DeKalb (0-3) played without one of its two returning starters, guard Brian Sisler, who turned his ankle in the Barbs' Monday night game.
That left coach Dave Rohlman with an even more inexperienced team. There's some talent, such as sophomore Andre Harris (13 points), but there's also mistakes like when the Barbs left Trimble alone even after he got hot.
“We worked very hard to get back into it,” Rohlman said. “One thing youth doesn't know how to do is stem those tides and this guy hits two in a row and we still don't find him for the third one. Three 3s in a row and it's 9 points.”
The teams traded the lead early, the Barbs' last one coming at 9-8 on a Harris basket. Geneva scored the next 14 points. The first 4 points in the burst came from junior Brendan Leahy, and Will Doeckel followed with a 3-point basket and a 4-point play after he was fouled draining another 3.
The Vikings led comfortably from there, 32-24 at halftime and 52-36 after three quarters. Hince scored 12 points and Leahy had 10 to join Trimble in double figures. Brad Bernhard had 7 points and 7 rebounds. Ralston complimented the play of reserves Drew White and Ryan Willing.
“We're seeing who can step up and who is ready to play,” Ralston said. “It was nice to see them execute plays and not let them get back in.”