Geneva beats Batavia, now 25-0
Cole and Dom Navigato combined for 10 straight points in the fourth quarter to help Geneva break open a 1-point game and win at Batavia 62-52 Friday night, keeping its undefeated season alive with four regular season games remaining.
The Bulldogs (14-13, 4-6 in the Upstate Eight Conference River Division) had cut a 10-point first-half deficit to 41-40 going to the fourth quarter on a pair of free throws by JT Dietz.
Dom Navigato answered with a 3-point basket, the first of five straight possessions No. 2 Geneva (25-0, 9-0) scored. Next it was Dom Navigato feeding his brother for a bucket and a 46-41 lead, then Dom Navigato scored while being fouled to make it 49-43.
Cole Navigato converted a putback, and freshman Nate Santos capped his big night with his second 3-point shot, giving the Vikings a 54-43 cushion and deflating a nearly packed Batavia gym who thought they might see Geneva lose for the first time.
"For our guys to grind it out in the fourth quarter, amazing job," Geneva coach Phil Ralston said. "Batavia is probably the toughest place for Geneva to play. This was not one of our best shooting nights. It took second and third efforts for us to get this done."
Batavia opened the game with a 7-1 lead on an Eric Peterson 3-pointer, then a Peterson steal and layup. Geneva went ahead for good 13-12 on Mitch Mascari's corner 3-pointer as the Vikings led 14-12 after one quarter and 29-25 at halftime.
Up 37-32 midway through the third quarter on consecutive Jack McDonald assists, first to Dom Navigato and then to Cole Navigato, Geneva had a scare when Cole Navigato went down with what turned out to be a sprained right ankle. He left the game for several minutes.
Navigato had his ankle taped and returned, finishing with 17 points and 8 rebounds.
"We were a little nervous when Cole went down," Dom Navigato said. "When Cole came back in I knew we were going to win this game. We pounded the ball inside and scored those buckets."
Dom Navigato paced Geneva with 19 points with 9 rebounds, and Mascari and Santos both added 10 points.
"I guess the adrenaline took away the pain," said Cole Navigato, adding he would probably sit out practice the coming week to get ready for next Friday's potential conference-clinching game against St. Charles East. "We really just crashed hard on the offensive rebounds and Dom made big baskets inside. We were just aggressive."
Colin Cheaney led Batavia with 22 points.
"They are a hot team," Batavia coach Jim Nazos said. "They execute. The two Navigatos do a lot of things right out there. McDonald is a nice point guard. They have a lot of nice pieces. They did a really good job of executing at that time (early fourth quarter). You can't have lapses against a team like that."