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'Big Cat' Navigato powers Geneva past Lyons

Dom Navigato is called "Big Cat" by his Geneva teammates.

Big Cat was on the prowl Tuesday night.

The 6-foot-5 senior scored a game-high 21 points and pulled down a career-high 17 rebounds to power the Vikings past Lyons 48-33 at the Class 4A Downers Grove North regional semifinals.

Geneva (28-2) will take on the winner of Wednesday's semifinal between Downers North and Hinsdale South in Friday's final.

"Since I'm a senior, every game (could be) our last game," Navigato said. "I just try to play my heart out and I played really well tonight and helped us get the win."

Did he ever. Navigato tallied 13 points, including a trio of 3-pointers, during a first half in which the other Vikings struggled offensively.

The game was tied at 18 at halftime.

"In the first half we struggled a little bit from beyond the arc," Navigato said. "We weren't finishing well.

"At halftime we got a good talk from our coach and we came out strong and played well, great hard defense and we made some open shots."

Indeed, the third quarter was the decisive stanza. Geneva outscored the Lions 14-5, opening the second half with a 9-0 run.

"The start of the third quarter was the key to the game," Lyons coach Tom Sloan said. "They were quicker to the ball on the glass.

"They played like a team that was expecting to take over the game. They made fundamentally sound plays and we gave up several offensive rebounds.

Navigato only had 3 points in the quarter but he picked up 9 rebounds. He had all 6 of the Vikings' offensive rebounds and all but 9 of their overall total.

"They weren't really boxing me out," Navigato said. "So I was just crashing the boards hard and just got the rebounds."

The Lions (14-14) elected not to double-team Navigato and there was a reason for that.

"He's very good and the biggest problem is they have multiple really good players, so you can't focus on one guy," Sloan said. "If you focus on one guy, somebody else is going to hurt you and that's the sign of a really good team."

Jack McDonald triggered the third-quarter run with a layup and scored all 11 of his points after intermission. Mitch Mascari added 8 points and Cole Navigato and Matt Johnston, who was tasked with guarding 6-8 forward Connor Niego, both scored 4.

Niego led the Lions with 12 points but shot 5-for-12 and had only 2 rebounds.

"The job that Matt Johnston did on Niego was also key," Geneva coach Phil Ralston said. "I know he had 12 points but we were really, really concerned about that.

"So we went with a unique defensive adjustment by putting Johnston on him. That allowed the 'Big Cat' to get his boards tonight."

That allowed Big Cat and the Vikings to roar another day, while Sloan has seen enough.

"He's a good player who makes tough plays," Sloan said. "If you're not playing against him, it's fun to watch."

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