Geneva denies Prairie Ridge in OT
Prairie Ridge hoped for a second fantastic finish in less than 24 hours in its own gym as it worked the ball around against Geneva in the final minute of regulation.
The Wolves held the ball for the last 45 seconds Friday night against Crystal Lake South and won on James Muse's 3-pointer with 1.1 second remaining.
Geneva had no intention of seeing a replay.
The Vikings' 6-foot-7 Chris Suger tipped away the inbounds pass with 1.6 seconds to go, then Geneva finished off things at the free-throw line in overtime for a 48-41 nonconference boys basketball victory Saturday afternoon.
"We've had a couple (last-second plays) not drop our way, one did last night," Wolves coach Ryan Smith said. "We had an opportunity tonight and Geneva's good at what they do. I would take 41-41 with the ball in our hands any time."
Geneva (12-11) led for less than 2 minutes of the game until overtime. Jimmy Rasmussen hit a free throw with 2:40 remaining that gave the Vikings the lead for good. They made their next six free throws to seal the deal.
"We played a really good Wheaton Warrenville South team last night, they beat us by 30," Vikings coach Scott Hennig said. "Less than 24 hours later, we came back, a toughness game, Prairie Ridge on the road. They're a good team, they beat Huntley last week. I'm really proud."
Geneva did it mainly with defense. The Wolves hit 11 of 20 field goals in the first half, culminating with Mason Loucks' 50-foot, banked-in, 3-pointer to finish the second quarter.
Prairie Ridge (12-10) managed only 12 more points in the final 20 minutes.
"I thought our defense after the start of the game was really good," Hennig said. "They started off 5 for 5, then they hit two 3s (rest of the half) and one was a half-court bank shot. We were more active. I'm really proud of our guys."
Prairie Ridge hit five of its first six shots, all were 3s, for a 15-4 lead.
"In the first quarter they came out firing, and we knew they couldn't shoot like that the whole game," Geneva guard Mike Lawrence said. "We really amped up the defense, getting in the passing lanes, making sure they weren't getting any more wide-open 3s."
Lawrence gave the Vikings their first lead of the game, 36-34, with a 17-footer with 1:50 to go in the third quarter. Loucks hit a 3 to tie the score at 37-37 at the end of the quarter.
Prairie Ridge shot 4 of 20 on field goals in the second half and overtime.
"Our offense wasn't too bad, it was the fact that our defense let up 17 points in the third quarter," Loucks said. "We played pretty solid defense the rest of the way out, it was just the 17 points in the third quarter. We can't have that 8-minute stretch."
Prairie Ridge had the final possession of regulation and the ball was knocked out of bounds with 1.6 to go.
"We were trying to send a couple shooters to the corners and have James roll back to the elbow for a midrange jumper," Smith said. "Jackson (Otto) and Mason in the corners. It was tough to throw over (Suger)."
Suger hit three 3s in the pivotal third quarter and finished with 11 points. Rasmussen added 11 and Lawrence scored 10.
Lawrence said the Vikings kind of knew what was coming from Wheaton Warrenville South Friday night, the No. 7 team in The Associated Press Class 4A poll.
"We were going to just kind of do our thing and put it behind us," Lawrence said. "Today was a new day, go out there and played our game and knew what we could do.
"In the second half, Chris Suger came out and made a bunch of 3s. We had a lot of guys making plays and making shots. We were just playing off of each other, making buckets."
Loucks finished with six 3s, giving him 15 in three games this week. He said a long 3 at the end of the first quarter that was close helped him with the shot just before halftime. Muse took the inbounds pass and passed to Loucks, who dribbled once and let it go.
"After the first-quarter one I knew for a fact that one before halftime was going in," Loucks said.