Geneva fends off St. Charles North, keeps UEC River lead
Geneva's Nate Navigato scored 6 first-half baskets Tuesday against St. Charles North, 4 of them 3-pointers.
Turns out his 1-foot leaner with 55 seconds left in the game was at least as crucial.
In three and a half minutes Charles North rallied from 10 points down to within a point on guard Jake Ludwig's 3 on top of iffy Geneva foul shooting and turnovers.
Navigato's inside bucket hit the reset button for the Vikings, who went on to win the Upstate Eight Conference River Division contest 66-59 in St. Charles.
"Pace (Temple) drove right all the way down the baseline and then I saw an opening. I cut, he found me and then I had a nice left-handed layup. Credit to Pace, though," said Navigato, who led all scorers with 26 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the floor.
With two conference games left Geneva (24-2, 11-1) increased its conference lead over 10-2 St. Charles East to a full game. The Vikings' last conference title came in the since-disbanded Western Sun in the 2008-09 season.
Credit also St. Charles North (16-8, 9-3). It trailed 43-27 with 2:21 left in the third quarter when Jarod Karom scored 10 straight North Stars points to enter the fourth quarter trailing 47-38.
"I think Jarod brought us back single-handedly in that third quarter, and we needed him desperately and he stepped up," said North Stars forward Jack Callaghan, who joined Karom with 13 points.
Guard Mikey Schroeder scored 10 points and 6-foot-5 sophomore Griffin Hammer led St. Charles North with 14 points - battling, as coach Tom Poulin said, "in the land of the trees."
Down 55-45 with 4:43 left to play, St. Charles North forced 5 turnovers to get within 60-59 on Ludwig's 3 with 1:10 to play.
"You've got to pressure their guards, you've got to push them away from the hoop in the half-court with just ball pressure and denials," Poulin said.
After the Ludwig three, however, Geneva didn't allow another point. The Vikings bolstered the margin with 2 free throws apiece by Sean Chambers and Navigato.
"I think there was a couple possessions after that we could have done better executing," said Ludwig. "We'll learn from that and see them again in the regional."
Helping Geneva's cause down the stretch was the rebounding power of Navigato, Mike Landi and Loudon Vollbrecht - 6-foot-7, 6-7 and 6-8 - who headed a 36-15 board advantage. Vollbrecht grabbed 7 fourth-quarter rebounds, 5 of them on the offensive glass, and finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Landi had 9 of each with a key block late.
"Our staff at the end was contemplating to go small and try to match up with them or do we continue to use our length, and I think we made the right decision by sticking with the length," said Vikings coach Phil Ralston.