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Geneva rolls past South Elgin

Geneva senior Bennett Fuzak was up to his old tricks in an Upstate Eight Conference crossover against South Elgin Tuesday night, burying four 3-pointers on his way to a game-high 20 points in the Vikings' 69-60 win.

None of those long-range jumpers were the highlight of his night. That came in the third quarter when Fuzak took a feed from Matt Johnston and powered home a two-hand slam.

"The dunk doesn't happen as often. I have to start doing that more," the 6-foot-7 Fuzak said smiling.

"It's kind of a mismatch because when you put a big on me I can take them outside and shoot the ball but if you put a littler guy on me I can post them up. It works to my advantage. It is something I've worked on since before I got in high school is the outside shot. It's just kind of come natural."

Sixteen of Fuzak's points came in the first half when Geneva (18-5) was building leads of 23-12 after one quarter and 43-21 at halftime. The Vikings led by 28 early in the fourth quarter before coach Phil Ralston gave his bench extended playing time and South Elgin (11-11) narrowed the final gap to 9.

"It was nice for us to give some other guys some minutes," said Ralston. "We have a lot of kids who put a lot of work in not just in the season but in the off-season. They deserve their moments to shine too."

Those players included Ryan Ralston, Trent Henger and Brady Smith who all scored in the final 5 minutes.

Before that, it was Fuzak, Jordan Vedder (10 points), Brandon Schleicher and Cole Navigato with 7 points and Dom Navigato with 6 points and 7 rebounds who helped the Vikings take a commanding lead. Geneva sank 14 of 26 shots from the field in the first half and 10 of 11 free throws.

"That might have been one of our best halves of the season," Phil Ralston said. "Offensively we were crisp, got the ball where we wanted. Defensively we limited (Matt) Smith to one open look and he hit it."

Those were the only 3 points of the game for the Storm star, who missed last Friday's game against West Chicago with food poisoning and still wasn't 100 percent Tuesday.

"He wasn't himself tonight and we needed him. Hopefully he'll be ready Friday (against Glenbard East) because we need him," said Storm assistant coach Chuck Fed who filled in for Jim Cook, out with a "family situation," according to Fed.

"Bottom line is Geneva was ready to play and we weren't. They attacked us and we didn't fight back."

Up 49-24 after a 3-point play by Cole Navigato, Ralston ended up calling 3 timeouts in the third quarter after a series of bad offensive possessions.

"That was what we warned them about," Ralston said. "We have to keep pressing the gas. We just got sloppy in the third quarter."

South Elgin really cut into the lead in the fourth behind Logan Atkins who scored 16 of his team-high 17 points in the quarter. Anthony Lynch added 14 points and Julian Lynch 10.

"We finished strong if you want to take a positive out of there," Fed said. "That last group I had in really fought."

Images: Geneva vs. South Elgin boys basketball

  South Elgin's Quintin McClundon (left) attempts to block a shot by Geneva's Jordan Vedder in the second quarter Tuesday. Laura Stoecker/lstoecker@dailyherald.com
  South Elgin's Damien Young (right) drives to the hoop with Geneva's Zachary Samples on his trail in the first quarter Tuesday. Laura Stoecker/lstoecker@dailyherald.com
  South Elgin's Quintin McClundon (left) attempts to block a shot by Geneva's Jordan Vedder in the second quarter Tuesday. Laura Stoecker/lstoecker@dailyherald.com
  Geneva's Matt Johnston (0), Dominic Navigato (25) and South Elgin's David Binion wrestle for a rebound in the first quarter Tuesday. Laura Stoecker/lstoecker@dailyherald.com
  Geneva's Matt Johnston sinks a shot in the second quarter Tuesday vs. South Elgin. Laura Stoecker/lstoecker@dailyherald.com
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