Geneva closes out Metea Valley with late 13-0 run
Josh Preston found a lane and drove it right down Broadway through the paint.
Preston, Geneva's senior forward, finished it with a two-handed slam dunk. Preston's authoritative play midway through the third quarter was indicative of the type of performance he'd finish with in Geneva's 46-32 victory over Metea Valley in the Class 4A Geneva regional semifinal Wednesday.
The Vikings (18-12), with the win, set themselves up for a third meeting against DuKane Conference rival Wheaton Warrenville South at 7 p.m. Friday. The teams split two games during the regular season.
"That was amazing," said Preston, who finished with 23 points and 8 rebounds, of the dunk. "I dunked that, turned around and saw all my teammates' faces light up. And we were ready to stop them on defense and finish out that game."
Geneva led Metea Valley by three points heading into the fourth quarter, which was promptly erased by a basket from Metea's Miles Leavy. Brian Wrenn and Drew Johnson added layups for the Vikings, but Kymari McBride hit a 3-pointer in response to cut the Geneva lead to 33-32.
The Mustangs, though, went ice cold from the field from there, held scoreless for the remainder of the game. Geneva ended it on a 13-0 run, fueled by seven points from Preston and four from Dylan Fuzak.
"Our full-court press I think was what turned it up. That brought us some energy," Preston said of the late defensive surge. "Turned it back to the defensive end. We'd get rebounds consistently and we'd push it up and be back more confident on offense."
"We knew we could score on them offensively, we just needed to stop them defensively. It's as simple as that," Johnson said.
Johnson had 4 points and 8 rebounds.
The Vikings now have a day off before a rubber match with WW South.
"(WW South) does such a good job on their press," Geneva coach Scott Hennig said. "It might come down to 50-50 balls or free throws (or) rebounding. They're going to make shots. We're going to make shots. They're well-coached. (The) kids will be ready to go; they know what to expect."
For Metea, senior forward Will Hopkins finished with 8 points and 5 rebounds, while McBride had 10 points and 6 rebounds. Alex Moreno had 6 points and 3 rebounds.
"It felt like we had a lid on the basket toward the end of the game, but we had focused on locking it down on the defensive end all week coming up for this game," Hopkins said. "That was our main focus. We knew we'd be able to get looks. We were getting good looks most of the game and they just weren't falling and that happens."
The Mustangs (11-17) were without starting forward Tahj Morgan, who suffered a left knee injury against Waubonsie Valley on Feb. 26.
"That really hurt," Hopkins said. "Seeing him go out on the Waubonsie game, we all felt it as a team. But, we've been struggling with injuries all season, through the Christmas tournament (and) leading up to that. We knew we could band together as a team."