Geneva avenges only loss of season to Lake Park
Although Geneva secured the DuKane Conference crown earlier this week, it still had plenty of incentives to win Friday night.
In addition to maintaining a perfect home record and honoring senior players, the Vikings hosted Lake Park - the only team to beat Geneva this season.
The Vikings avenged the only blemish on their record with a 66-54 win over the Lancers.
"You look at our record every time and that one loss always just has that place in your heart," said Geneva's Mitch Mascari. "You get a little angry but it was nice to come out there and get the win. We had a lot more energy tonight and we were focused."
The game started out at slow pace taking three minutes for the first points to register on the score board - two free throws by Geneva senior Daniel Belzer at the 5:04 mark of the period.
Another two minutes passed before the first basket, a layup by Lake Park's Luke Sgarbosa. The junior guard gave the Lancers (19-10, 7-6) their only lead of the night 4-2 after converting a Geneva turnover into a bucket. The quarter ended in an 8-8 tie.
Geneva's offense got on track in the second stanza. The Vikings opened the period with a 12-0 run, eventually scoring 25 points to take a 33-16 lead at the intermission.
Mascari's back-to-back 3-pointers started the run. He finished Geneva's first half scoring with another pair of treys. Mascari scored 20 points in the game. Classmate Kross Garth scored six of his 13 points in the period.
Key to the quarter was containing Sgarbosa and Trevor Montiel, Lake Park's two main scoring threats. Although Sgarbosa also finished the night with 20 points, he made only three baskets in the first half. Montiel, who finished with 18, managed one basket in the first 16 minutes.
"We switched our matchups a little bit. We put Garth on 21 (Sgarbosa) and we started Ben Johnson and then Joshua Preston on Montiel," said Geneva coach Scott Hennig. "Our matchups were totally different and we took care of the basketball. We had some silly turnovers over there. It helps that we are at home, we shot a lot better."
Geneva (26-1, 12-1) widened its margin to 50-27 after the third quarter.
Lake Park's offense got on track in the fourth quarter scoring 27 points to Geneva's 16. The Lancers drained six 3-pointers in the comeback effort. Sgarbosa had three of them.
"They had guys that made shots," Hennig said about the quarter. "We lost Sgarbosa a few times."
Rebounding was another key to the win with Geneva having a 27-18 advantage.
The Vikings were also near perfect at the free throw line, connecting on 20 of 21 attempts. Jack McDonald scored eight of his 13 points from the charity stripe.
Hennig played eight of his nine seniors and seven scored.
"Mitch Mascari was fantastic again. Jack (McDonald) was passing. I'll give our other guys credit. All the seniors contributed tonight," Hennig said. "Reilly (Waldoch) did not play because he was sick but the other eight were fantastic."