Geneva's size overwhelms Elgin

The Elgin boys basketball team must have felt it was surrounded by giants at Chesbrough Field House in Elgin on Tuesday night.

The Maroons were just no match for a Geneva team that boasts nine players 6-foot-6 or taller. The Vikings dominated inside and cruised to a 72-53 Upstate Eight Conference River Division win. The win keeps Geneva a game behind St. Charles East in the River Division and extends its winning streak to 9 games.

The Vikings had a 28-8 rebounding advantage, including 11 offensive boards that led to 18 second-chance points in the first half as they built a 36-18 lead.

"We were totally intimidated by their size," Elgin coach Mike Sitter said. "Even if you are smaller than the other team you can't back down, but we let teams push us around. When they push we don't push back."

The Vikings (18-2, 7-1) attacked from a variety of sources. Loudon Vollbrecht scored 9 of his team-high 13 points in the first half. Michael Landi also scored all 9 of his points in the first half. Bennett Fuzak added a little outside scoring with 7 points, including a 3-pointer.

The Vikings also played solid defense in the first half, holding Elgin to just 6 of 22 (27 percent) shooting from the field and keeping Elgin's top scoring threat, Lavion Baldwin, without a basket until late in the second quarter.

"I thought we came out and played tremendous on defense at the start of the game,"Geneva coach Phil Ralston said. "We came out flat in our last game against Batavia and it almost cost us, so we really wanted to come out strong at the start tonight. The goal was to take Baldwin out of their offense as much as we could and we were able to do that."

Nate Navigato finished with 12 points for the Vikings and Chandler Fuzak had a nice game off the bench with 10 points and 6 rebounds.

"There were a few too many turnovers that still drive me crazy, but there were a lot of positives today," Ralston said. "I thought that was a real nice game for Chandler. He crashed the glass and got some big putbacks. He's capable of doing that it's just a matter of him gaining some confidence."

The Maroons (6-17, 2-7) were able to string together a few decent stretches with a 6-0 run in the second quarter and another 10-2 run in the fourth quarter, but it wasn't enough.

"There were some times when we got good pressure on the ball and were able to make some things happen," Sitter said. "We just weren't able to sustain it."

Baldwin finished with a team-high 16 points for the Maroons. Chaquille Bennett added 11 points, including three 3-pointers.