Geneva tops Streamwood to complete 2-0 weekend
Geneva withstood a furious third quarter Streamwood comeback to win the nonconference game 62-54 Saturday night on the Vikings' annual Hall of Fame night.
Streamwood, trailing 39-30 to start the second half, found openings in Geneva's zone defense to connect on midrange shots and whittled away at the Vikings' lead. Streamwood's Zach Marquez' 3-pointer from the left wing tied the game at 47 all with 3:23 left in the third quarter.
A Quin McNeive layup and an Andrew Caskey basket put Geneva back on top, 51-47. With less than 30 seconds to go, Sabres' Richard Santiago connected on two free throws to narrow the margin to two. Teammate Kyle Maybrun (11 points) had a layup to tie the game at the buzzer, but it rolled off the rim.
"They just hit some tough shots (in the third quarter), they are good," Geneva coach Scott Hennig said. "They are athletic. (Streamwood coach Kent Payne) does a really good job. They speed you up defensively and don't let you run your stuff."
"We just tried to keep up the pressure. We created some turnovers and made some shots and finally got a little rhythm," said Payne. "We got a little better penetration against the zone."
Host Geneva (16-12) adjusted its zone in the fourth quarter and cooled off Streamwood's offense to end the threat.
"We changed our defense from a 1-2-2 to more of a 2-3 so that eliminates the corner shots and that stopped them," said Geneva's Drew Johnson, who scored 13 points.
Streamwood (15-14) jumped out to an early lead in the first quarter. Jakobe Strong's first basket of the game put the Sabres up 9-3 halfway through the stanza. Strong and Geneva's Nathan Valentine both scored 15 points.
Hennig anticipated a sluggish start after Friday night's win over Lake Park.
"We got off to a rough start. We weren't really ready," Hennig said. "We had a big emotional win last night against Lake Park so I was expecting a slow start. I was proud of the guys. They got their act together."
Geneva's offense got on track and ended the period on a 12-2 run, capped by a Johnson trey for a 19-13 lead to start the second quarter.
The Vikings outscored Streamwood 20-17 in the second quarter.
"We started hitting the high post," said Hennig. "Joshua Preston is really good at skipping the ball and we got guys who can make shots."
The Vikings also controlled the boards, outrebounding Streamwood 43-29. Preston grabbed 10 loose balls in addition to scoring 9 points.
"They made in hard in the paint," Payne said. "It was hard to get inside and get offensive rebounds."