Gentry, Navigato leave a legacy
Dave Ruggles saw this coming, a success years in the making.
The founder of the Mercury Elite youth basketball program had the good fortune to coach Geneva's Nate Navigato and St. Charles East's Cole Gentry when they played two acclaimed seasons together at the Under-14 and U15 levels.
“I thought they would be varsity players very quickly,” said Ruggles, whose son, Josh, a senior star at Wheaton Warrenville South, was on those teams along with older son Brandon Ruggles and the likes of Plainfield North's Trevor Stumpe.
“You could tell that, specifically, Cole and Nate and Josh were going to be major players really quickly from the way they responded,” Dave Ruggles said. “They didn't back down from anybody. You'd have a jump ball and you'd have a 6-10 player, a 6-8, and they'd go out there and beat them.”
Ruggles said opponents would laugh at Elite when they took the court. No one's laughing now, and the winning continues for Gentry and Navigato who, indeed, became three-year varsity starters.
The 5-foot-11 Gentry, on the short list of the state's top point guards, runs a Saints ship whose 23 victories entering regional play are the most since 1965 and two away from the program record set in 1977-78.
The University of Buffalo-bound Navigato, who at 6-7 can and has played every position, has contributed to 72 varsity wins while eclipsing a program scoring record set in 1961. The Vikings' 26 victories this season are the most since Geneva won 30 in 1962-63.
Like Ruggles, Navigato and Gentry saw this coming.
“We had always played against each other in middle school. I tried to recruit him for a team because he was really good, but he was pretty quiet,” Gentry said.
“Our personalities pretty much clicked,” he said. “He's more quiet and keeps to himself but on the court he's a great competitor.”
“Everybody always told us we had something special,” Navigato said. “But we worked extremely hard. I have and I know he has, too. It's been pretty cool to see us grow up like this and see where we are.”
Where are they?
Headed by these stars, 23-3 St. Charles East and 26-3 Geneva neared a possible regional championship clash after a 1-1 regular-season split earned each a piece of the Upstate Eight Conference River Division title. It seemed a perfect time to share the wealth.
Cole Gentry and Nate Navigato are the honorary co-captains of the Daily Herald 2014-15 Tri-Cities All-Area Boys Basketball Team.
By the numbers
No knuckleheads they, Dave Ruggles noted. No ballhogs.
“They're very respectful kids,” he said, “and everything about them is great.”
Including the statistics.
Gentry, 165 pounds and “5-10 and a half with shoes on,” he said, entered the Geneva regional averaging 18.3 points a game on 56 percent shooting from the floor, and an astronomical 50 percent (56-111) beyond the 3-point arc. Getting to the line 101 times the UEC River Division MVP made 79 free throws, a 78-percent clip.
In St. Charles East's ball-screen offense Gentry bounce-passed, penetrated and kicked-out his way to an average of 4.8 assists compared to only 2 turnovers a game. The cat-quick senior gobbled up 2.4 steals a game. Gentry scored a career-high 33 points with five 3-point baskets in an 82-63 win over Naperville North on Jan. 31.
He's one of those guys who can score zero points and still be the top player on the court. Division I Furman and Maryland-Baltimore County have recognized this with scholarship offers.
“Cole is probably one of the best point guards I've seen in the Upstate Eight Conference since we've been in the Upstate Eight Conference. I don't think there's many kids I've seen able to control a game the way he does,” said Geneva coach Phil Ralston.
“I think probably the aspect that makes him special is his ability to really see the floor. I don't know how many games I've seen him play where he sees where every one of his guys is on the floor. It's like he's got a third eye.”
Navigato also needs a third eye to see where that second and third defender is coming from. On a Geneva team that played 12 games without a point guard until Pace Temple returned from injury on Jan. 10, the 215-pound Navigato helped facilitate an offense that, inevitable, revolved around him.
Geneva's all-time leading scorer averaged 19.7 points entering the postseason on 61 percent shooting inside the 3-point arc, 54 percent overall and 41 percent on 3-pointers. His 85 percent on free throws currently ranks third on Geneva's single-season list — right behind the 88 percent he made last season as a junior.
Navigato adds 5.4 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 2 steals a game. His season high of 33 came Jan. 19 against Urbana when he was named MVP at Moline; he reached 41 points last season against Bloomington. In one of Geneva's rare losses, 62-58 to Neuqua Valley at East Aurora, Navigato outscored the UEC Valley MVP, Connor Raridon, 29-6.
“I'm glad Nate's graduating,” said St. Charles East coach Patrick Woods. “He's a heck of a player. He can shoot the ball from all over. He's also competitive, he never comes off the court.
“He has always been a handful and he also does a really nice job in the way he plays the game — very level-headed and composed in crucial situations, and I really respect players like that.”
Head to head
The former AAU teammates each scored 29 points, tying for game honors, when the teams met Dec. 13 at St. Charles East.
On the second of two successive fadeaway shots Navigato had the Vikings up 27-19 before the Saints, fueled by 2 of Gentry's 7 steals, took a 28-27 lead. Navigato closed the first half scoring Geneva's last 5 points for a 37-34 lead on a pair of free throws and a rainbow 3 with the Saints' Cam Miller pressuring the release.
“It seems like he makes tough shots look effortless,” Batavia coach Jim Nazos said of Navigato. “He may be trying a fadeaway 17-footer with a guy in his face and it doesn't seem to take that much effort. He's smooth.”
It was Gentry and St. Charles East, however, who proved slightly smoother in a 77-69 Saints win. A crucial 21-0 third-quarter run aided by 2 Gentry steals and full-court pressure did the trick. Though Navigato scored 15 fourth-quarter points it was Gentry's all-around floor game — and 13 fourth-quarter points including 8 for 8 on free throws — that prevailed.
“It is so hard to ignore Gentry's effect on a game,” said veteran Daily Herald columnist and sports correspondent Dave Heun. “It takes an entire team concept to stop him from doing what he wants and getting into the lane, where he becomes deadly dangerous with the shot or pass.”
The tables turned Feb. 5, the Vikings avenging that loss 75-63 in sectional-style atmosphere in Geneva. Navigato scored a game-high 22 points with 10 rebounds while Gentry scored 21 with 4 steals, four 3-pointers.
St. Charles East's defense again produced mega-turnovers — 24 even with Temple back on the floor — but atypical cold 3-point shooting allowed Geneva to take a 38-17 halftime lead.
As Navigato was shooting 10 of 12 from the foul line for the game against Evan DiLeonardi's usual in-your-jersey defense, the Vikings went up 51-28 after three quarters.
“(Buffalo coach) Bobby Hurley was at a game (against West Chicago) where Nate was ‘box-and-oned' the whole game,” said Navigato's father, Dan, a former high school guard. “Hurley said, with a smile, ‘That is one defense Nate will never face at the collegiate level.' He also said that playing against those defenses will only help Nate at the next level.”
In the fourth quarter Gentry and St. Charles East found their next level. The little guard scored 9 of his 21 points in a 35-quarter frame to pull the Saints within 65-61 before Geneva regained its footing. Gentry canned 3 fourth-quarter 3s and helped Jake Asquini produce 3 himself.
“His leadership skills and ability to get everyone involved have made St. Charles East the most dangerous team in the area,” Elgin coach Mike Sitter said of Gentry.
Teammates
Geneva coach Phil Ralston said on and off the court, Navigato will be the “poster child” for future Geneva players — who include Nate's sophomore triplet brothers Dominic, Devin and Cole.
Aside from possessing character that will far outreach his basketball career, St. Charles East coach Patrick Woods believed Gentry's greatest attribute on the court is “the use of the pass to make his teammates better.”
Individually each of these players is stellar. Basketball is a team game, however, and that's what they take out of it.
“It's been awesome, my three years playing on the varsity level,” Navigato said. “I've had a great group of coaches, even on the freshman level, great teammates. Everyone's been really good to me...I think it's been a great ride, but we're definitely not done yet.”
His longtime pal and former teammate has something to say about that.
“We're trying to leave a legacy, especially us seniors,” Gentry said. “In years past we were good but had nothing we could hang our hats on, really. We've got a conference championship, sharing it with Geneva, and our next goal is to leave a legacy so in the future people can see that 2014-2015 was the most successful team in St. Charles East history.”