Geneva takes down Barrington in OT
Geneva senior Brandon Schleicher had already done the hard part when he stepped to the free throw line with 2.8 seconds left in overtime of a tied Crystal Lake Central Thanksgiving Tournament championship game against Barrington.
Schleicher, the smallest of the Vikings' starters at 6-feet-1, raced in for the biggest rebound of the night when Bennett Fuzak's 3-pointer spun around and out. Schleicher was fouled as he tried to score off the miss and then calmly hit both free throws after a pair of timeouts.
And when Ben Weber's running heave from beyond midcourt hit off the back of the rim at the buzzer the Vikings had defended their boys basketball tournament title with a 45-43 victory Saturday night at the Crystal Lake Central Field House.
"That was a lot of fun," Schleicher said of an intense battle that featured 25 lead changes and the largest advantage of 4 points for Geneva.
Fuzak played through foul trouble for 13 points and 6 rebounds and Cole Navigato had 10 points as the Vikings (4-0) won their fourth straight Thanksgiving title - the first two were at West Chicago - and fifth in eight years. Barrington (3-1) had the ball for the final 2:29 of regulation, but Weber's drive in traffic rimmed off, and had a chance to get the last shot in overtime until an offensive foul call with 26.7 seconds to play.
Geneva worked the ball to Fuzak, who came in averaging 23 points a game, for a shot on the left wing that eventually landed in Schleicher's hands.
"In that situation you have to crash the boards and you can't expect anything," Schleicher said.
"Bennett took as good a look as you could have in that situation," said Geneva coach Phil Ralston. "For Brandon to play heads-up basketball and not let go of the play, and try to keep it alive, I thought was outstanding."
Schleicher's first point of the game came when he split 2 free throws 29 seconds into overtime.
"Just another free throw," he said of his game-winners. "It was just like practice. You have to concentrate and have the same release like you do every time."
Barrington took a 43-42 lead when Weber found Ethan Small cutting down the lane for a layup at 3:13. Fuzak tied it with a free throw at 2:25.
Barrington senior Will Reinhard had 15 points on 7-for-11 shooting and 4 rebounds and sophomore Anthony Spann was a big spark off the bench with 8 points and 4 rebounds.
"Our kids played hard and I'm proud of them," said Barrington coach Bryan Tucker. "We did a lot of good things. To hold that team to 41 through regulation, we have to be proud of our defense because they run really good stuff."