Geneva routs Wheeling

A teachers' strike a few weeks ago couldn't slow down the Geneva boys basketball team.

And neither could Wheeling on Wednesday.

Not even close.

Geneva dealt with approximately a weeklong strike in early December that caused the boys basketball team to lose five practices and a game.

The Vikings were 6-0 at the time.

"It's been a strange year in Geneva with the strike," second-year Geneva coach Scott Hennig said. "We missed five school days. But they (the players) did stuff on their own. I couldn't be there. But they (worked out during the strike). We have a lot of veteran players on this team, a bunch of gym rats and a lot of guys who want to play in college and that's a motivation too. They went to a gym, and they got stuff done and it showed.

Geneva, despite the abrupt interruption to its season, kept winning when the strike ended, and that winning streak continued on the first day of the Wheeling Wildcat Hardwood Classic.

The Vikings stormed out to a 9-0 lead and a 21-4 advantage at the end of the first quarter en route to a dominating 64-20 victory over host Wheeling. Geneva, which is coming off another sizable break with three days off for Christmas, is now a sparkling 10-0 on the season.

"We came back from the long (Christmas) break with a lot of energy, and we felt pretty good and loose," said Geneva senior forward Kross Garth, who finished with 10 points but had nine of them in the first quarter when the Vikings took control. He was one of three Geneva players in double figures. "We've had issues in the past where we would come out pretty slow and I think we've improved a lot on that.

"We've been coming out a lot stronger lately like we did tonight and that's what we need to keep doing."

Geneva was also tough on defense, holding Wheeling to just 1 field goal in the first half, a drive by Michael Best with about three minutes remaining in the first quarter. The Wildcats were 1-of-19 from the field in the first half. They finished with just 5 field goals on the game.

"We just didn't come to play," said Best, who managed to hit double figures with 12 points. "We didn't have a lot of energy coming in. The warmups just weren't the way we like to warm up. That kind of just set the tone for the rest of the game.

"But they (Geneva) are definitely a great team. They executed very well, you could tell they were very well-coached. They were making their open shots, running their offense right, playing great defense. They were a very well-disciplined team."

Also finishing in double figures for Geneva were Jack McDonald with 12 points and Mitch Mascari with 10 points.

Wheeling drops to 3-8 on the season.

"Geneva is a super talented team and unfortunately, they were ready to play and we were not," Wheeling coach Michael O'Keeffe said. "We had a practice this morning and things went pretty well. I thought we were prepared, but things just didn't click tonight.

"But the nice thing about this tournament is that we come back and get to play in less than 24 hours. We have the guys on the team that are capable of winning, it's just a matter of executing for 32 minutes."