Frederking, Geneva pick up where they left off
A new day, new opponent, new setting - and Geneva senior Christian Frederking looked just like he did the night before.
Frederking scored 17 of his game-high 19 points in the first half of the Vikings' 49-46 victory over LaSalle-Peru Saturday in their first game at the 81st annual Chuck Dayton Holiday Tournament in DeKalb.
Frederking's 17-point first half, along with his 14-point second half Friday night against Batavia, gave him 31 points in a 32-minute stretch.
The Vikings (9-1) wound up needing each one of those points when LaSalle-Peru (5-5) erased a 15-point deficit in the second half.
"I'm just trying to continue being aggressive and taking pressure off (Jeremy D'Amico) is about the best thing we can do offensively," Frederking said.
Frederking outscored LaSalle-Peru in the first half, 17-16. Geneva led 25-16 at halftime thanks in part to a 15-7 rebounding advantage.
"It's nice to see he built on the performance from Friday night," Geneva coach Phil Ralston said. "He's got to be able to put it together for 32 minutes. I don't think they were ready for him and they didn't have an answer for him in the first half."
Geneva built its biggest lead at 33-18 in third quarter on Frederking's final basket, set up by Sean Grady's long outlet pass. Like he did Friday, Frederking scored almost all his points by driving through traffic and converting around the basket.
LaSalle-Peru closed the third quarter outscoring Geneva 15-5. The Vikings turned the ball over 4 times in both the third and fourth quarters, which led directly to five layups at the other end.
"We had the chance to close the door on them. We should have done a better job of taking care of it," Ralston said. "I think our guys thought they were being aggressive and made some passes they shouldn't have. Instead of breaking their back and opening a bigger lead we let them back in the ballgame."
LaSalle-Peru tied the game at 40 with four minutes remaining on a play the Vikings also lost Tyler Scofield (game-high 7 rebounds) to an ankle injury. Scofield is questionable for Geneva's next game Monday.
Brandon Beitzel's basket put Geneva back on top, 42-40. D'Amico scored inside to open a 4-point lead, then hit a pair of free throws with 15.7 seconds left to give the Vikings a 47-43 advantage.
Stephen Christopherson's 3-pointer made it 47-46. Rob Tauscher's 2 free throws with 3.5 seconds left forced LaSalle Peru into a desperation 25-foot 3-pointer at the buzzer, which glanced off the backboard.
"I thought it was good even when we aren't playing our best we showed we can come back and play hard down the stretch," Frederking said.
D'Amico added 15 points, 4 assists and 4 steals, Tauscher scored 7 points and Grady came off the bench for 6. LaSalle-Peru did Geneva a favor by shooting 6 of 15 at the free-throw line.
"We didn't play very well in that second half and somehow we had the resolve to win the ballgame," Ralston said. "I give the kids credit for that."
The Vikings return to action at 7 p.m. Monday against Belvidere, which lost 76-44 to North Grand Saturday. Geneva plays North Grand Tuesday to complete pool play.
"Our goal is to cut down the nets at the end of the tournament," Frederking said. "That is what we are focusing on. We're rolling on all cylinders now and we're just trying to keep the momentum going."