Valentine's clutch shots help Geneva topple Lake Park
Nate Valentine received a challenge from Geneva coach Scott Hennig.
Lake Park's Luke Sgarbossa was hitting his 3-pointers. Geneva needed to match that.
Valentine answered the bell.
Valentine, a Vikings junior and first-year varsity starter, hit two 3-pointers early in the fourth quarter to help turn the tide. Geneva went on to a 46-41 win over visiting Lake Park in the DuKane Conference.
"I had three points at [the] half. I just wanted to make sure my confidence was always up," Valentine said. "Coach (Hennig) told me to step it up, and I'm never going to lose confidence in my shot. I had to just make sure to keep firing, and they fell at the right time."
The Vikings (9-8, 2-4) trailed by five at halftime, and were down by nine midway through the third quarter.
Valentine, who finished with 12 points, popped a 3-pointer to give the Vikings a 31-30 lead to open the fourth quarter. After one made free throw from Sgarbossa, Valentine hit another 3. Mason Mascari followed with a 3 of his own to give the Vikings a 37-31 lead with 6:07 left in the game.
Lake Park's Montrell Perry gave the Lancers a brief 39-38 lead with 2:18 left, but Josh Preston answered with a layup for Geneva. Sgarbossa missed two free throws, and Geneva's Ethan Hipp hit a pair of crucial free throws to maintain the 3-point lead.
Preston then hit four free throws in the final minutes to preserve a big conference win for the Vikings.
"I told the guys after the game, 'That's a Geneva win.' I don't know if we've really had that (yet this year), maybe beating Wheaton South earlier in the year, Since I've been here 10 years, we kind of prided ourselves on winning games like that."
How do the Vikings do it?
"Our pace, our style," Hennig said. "It might not be the most exciting (thing), but it gets it done at the end of the day. I'm just so proud of them buying into the game plan and doing the little things, making their free throws."
The Vikings entered Friday short-handed, with senior Drew Johnson and junior Dylan Fuzak out with illnesses. However Preston, who returned from a shoulder injury suffered in December to play limited minutes against Hersey earlier this week, played in his second game back.
Preston led the Vikings with 17 points, 6 rebounds, a steal and a block Friday. Valentine took only five shots, but made 3-of-4 from beyond the arc.
Sgarbossa scored seven of his 17 points in the first half for Lake Park. Joe Harrington finished with 9 points and 2 rebounds, while Perry had 7 points for the Lancers.
"(Geneva) out-hustled us on all aspects of the game," Lake Park coach Billy Pitcher said. "They outsmarted us, they out-hustled us, they out-coached us. They were just so much tougher than us. They got every loose ball. It was just a very disappointing performance for us."
Lake Park fell to 15-3, 4-2.