Boys Basketball: Geneva goes cold against Naperville Central
Updated: November 22, 2011 11:22PM
OSWEGO — Twelve minutes and 14 seconds isn’t that much time in anyone’s life, but it was an eternity Tuesday afternoon for Geneva basketball coach Phil Ralston.
His team went that long without scoring a point in a span covering part of the second and third quarters in their Hoops for Healing Tournament game against Naperville Central. The Redhawks, meanwhile, were putting up 27 unanswered points on the way to a 53-31 victory.
“I wish I could say I’ve never seen it before, but I probably have,” said the veteran Ralston. “You’re not going to win too many games on that kind of a run.”
The Vikings had no answer for Central’s 6-foot-8 sophomore center Nick Czarnowski, who led all scorers with 16 points. He also had 11 rebounds and blocked six shots, despite being the focus of Geneva’s 2-3 zone.
Geneva senior Brendan Leahy made a pair of free throws with 5:24 remaining in the first half to give his team a 16-11 lead. They didn’t score again until Connor Chapman made a spin move on the baseline and dropped in a shot with 1:10 remaining — in the third quarter.
“Our defense was outstanding,” said Central coach Pete Kramer. “It’s all about our kids out-working the other team and having a willingness to do what’s best for the team.”
The 15-4 advantage in the third quarter allowed Central to move from a 23-16 halftime advantage to a 38-20 margin after three. Geneva, meanwhile, had 10 turnovers in the two middle quarters.
“We’ve gotta do a better job of handling pressure,” said Ralston. “Last night we had 27 turnovers. The shots we’re taking are good shots, we just didn’t get many. And our base defense, I thought, did a nice job on them.”
It should be noted, Ralston is missing senior point guard Phil Lorenz, who has a broken finger. Junior guard Mike Trimble is out with a broken hand. He hopes to have both back in December.
Senior Mike Gruenthal added 10 points for the Redhawks, who had nine players score but forward Josh McMillan went down early after injuring his elbow.
Chapman, Drew White and Mark Becker led the Vikings with six points each.
Central got six from Bryce Kirk and five each from Nick Lopez and Mike Blaszceyk.
“Our seniors, Kevin Linne, Bryce Kirk and David Haywood gave us high energy and set the tone,” said Kramer.
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