Geneva tops St. Charles N. in offensive struggle

You could watch Geneva and St. Charles North play all season and not see what both teams did Friday again.

And you wouldn't want to.

“God that was an ugly game,” Phil Ralston said.

And he was the winning coach.

Geneva beat St. Charles North 48-36 Friday, winning on a rare night when Buffalo-bound star Nate Navigato didn't score in the first half and finished with 4 points.

“I don't think we would ever have him score single digits and come out on top,” Ralston said. “There's been too many times this season where we've put our entire lineup on his back and say, “You carry us to the finish line.' He's allowed to have an off night.”

Navigato had plenty of company as Geneva (12-2, 5-1 in the Upstate Eight Conference River Division) couldn't convert several golden opportunities while slowing building on leads of 9-7 after one quarter, 21-17 at halftime and 30-21 after three.

“Offensively you won't see our guys miss as many shots as we did,” Ralston said. “Man alive did we miss shots. There were times I was wondering if it was a volleyball game or basketball game because we had guys who looked like they were setting the ball instead of shooting the ball.”

Loudon Vollbrecht wasn't one of them, the only player on either team in double figures. The 6-foot-8 senior finished with 19 points and 7 rebounds.

“Tonight was a night that Nate doesn't really have very often,” Vollbrecht said. “He's a great player. The fact we have other players that can step up and get 4 points here, 6 points there. When we can step up when he's hurting it's even better.”

St. Charles North (11-7, 5-2) was especially cold behind the arc, making just 4 of 32 (12.5 percent). They were 7 of 19 from on their 2-point attempts for an overall 21.5 percent shooting night.

“I would say 28 of them (3s) were good looks by good shooters,” said North Stars coach Tom Poulin whose team has to make a quick recovery Saturday against St. Charles East.

“We haven't had a night like that all year. It was one of those nights from the field. Maybe it's their length. Whatever it is we didn't have it tonight. We just have to move on because we have another tough one tomorrow.”

Geneva also outrebounded the North Stars 45-25 led by Bennett Fuzak's 11.

Ralston credited some of the North Stars' cold shooting to the different looks from his team's 1-3-1.

“I don't think we'll see St. Charles North shoot that poorly again, and I did think we did some nice things defensively,” Ralston said. “Physical game, rivalry game. It was one of those that was nice to gut out. I told the guys a sign of a good team is you didn't play your best and you came out on top.”

Both Chandler Fuzak and Vollbrecht threw down exclamation point dunks in the closing minutes after the North Stars got as close as 37-30 on five straight points from Mikey Schroeder, who led his team with 9 points.

Jake Ludwig and Jack Callagahn scored 8 points for the North Stars as did Geneva senior Pace Temple in his second game back in the lineup.

The Vikings play Evergreen Park and Marian Catholic at the Moline Shootout Saturday and play two more games there Monday.

“I'm looking at this as a great challenge,” Ralston said.

“I think it's a good time to bond with the team,” Vollbrecht said. “It's going to be a great time on the bus.”