Geneva to play for tournament title

Jordan Vedder knew he had a shot at more playing time this boys basketball season for Geneva.

If the 6-foot-7 senior continues to shoot and perform the way he did Friday he will be spending a lot more time on the court.

Vedder came off the bench to hit four 3-pointers and score 16 points as the Vikings built a 31-point lead and won their final pool play game of the Crystal Lake Central Thanksgiving Tournament 59-46 over Prairie Ridge.

"Everyone has told me I had an opportunity," Vedder said after shooting 4-for-7 behind the arc and grabbing 5 rebounds. "I worked as hard as I could to step up and play the role coach (Phil) Ralston wants me to play."

Senior Bennett Fuzak led the defending tourney champion Vikings (3-0) in scoring for the third time with 17 points on 7-for-12 shooting. Junior Dom Navigato hit all 5 of his shots and added 12 points to help his team reach today's 7 p.m. title game against Barrington (3-0) at the Crystal Lake Central Field House.

Vedder scored 8 points as Geneva led 30-15 at halftime. His 3 and layup extended the lead to 50-19 with 1:36 left in the third and his final 3 made it 56-27 with six minutes left.

"The thing about Jordan is we know what he's capable of doing," Ralston said. "I think he's coming along and he really did some nice things tonight."

Vedder played a lot early last year but saw his playing time diminish as the Vikings made their run toward a fourth-place finish in the Class 4A state tournament.

"As the season went on other guys stepped up and I accepted my role," Vedder said. "I did everything I could in practice to make sure we did what we did."

For the first three quarters the Vikings looked a lot like a team trying to get back to Peoria. Matthew Johnston (7 rebounds, 4 assists), Brandon Schleicher and Cole Navigato (6 rebounds) helped them solve the Prairie Ridge (2-1) zone to hit 19 of their first 30 shots (63.3 percent) and finish with a 36-15 rebound advantage.

The Wolves, who got a team-high 10 points from Payton Otto, shot just 20 percent (6-for-30) the first 24 minutes. But the Vikings committed 13 of their 27 turnovers in the final quarter and also survived a big scare when Fuzak, averaging 23 points a game, was OK after falling on a battle for a missed shot inside and getting accidentally stepped on his throat.

"I thought for the first three quarters we did a fantastic job of executing our game plan," Ralston said. "I don't know if it was the complacency of sitting on a big lead like that ... but our focus was not there at the end of the game to close it out like we need to."

But the signs of more success are evident for the Vikings even though 6-8 Loudon Vollbrecht is out for the year and senior forward Sean Chambers (wrist) is currently sidelined because of football injuries.

"We definitely have the potential to be a great team," Vedder said. "We've put in the work. We could do something special."

Prairie Ridge will play Rockton Hononegah for third place in the tournament at 5:30 p.m. today.