STREAMWOOD – The Geneva boys basketball team was put on upset alert on the road against Streamwood Friday in Upstate Eight Conference River Division action.
But the Vikings didn’t receive the message in time, suffering a shocking 44-43 loss in overtime.
“We got outhustled at the end, played very passively in the second half,” Vikings coach Phil Ralston said. “Streamwood has good basketball players, and that is what will happen to you if you take them lightly.”
In overtime, the team’s traded 3 pointers, one by Geneva’s Nate Navigato that was matched by Streamwood’s Jacob Siewert to tie the score at 41-all.
Streamwood (9-17, 2-8 UEC River) took a 42-41 lead on a free throw by Ryan Dichoso. The Vikings then missed a quick shot, and the Sabres rebounded the ball and played keep away until Siewert was fouled. He calmly made two free throws for a 44-41 Sabres’ lead with 51 seconds to play.
Geneva (15-6, 6-4) held the ball – with a couple timeouts thrown in – until Navigato was fouled with 16 seconds on the clock. He missed the front end of a one-and-one, but the Vikings retained possession and Cam Cook scored on a layup with five seconds left.
Streamwood inbounded the ball and ran out the clock.
“With 1:40 left we let them run almost a minute off the clock. Our basketball IQ went down the drain right there,” Ralston said. “We lost our urgency, had no clue.
“Guys were looking at other people to step up and do something. We tried running a couple of different sets [on the final possession], but didn’t execute.”
Geneva defeated Streamwood in a blowout earlier this season.
“We made some timely shots and made some free throws when we had to [Friday],” Sabres coach Tim Jones said. “We are starting to get our act together.”
Geneva used an 11-0- run that bridging the first and second quarters to take a 21-8 lead that was cut to 25-17 at the half.
But the Sabres fought back to take a brief, 33-32 lead late in the third quarter before the quarter ended tied at 35.
“We had a 10-point lead we frittered away,” Ralston said. “We had open looks late, didn’t hit them. We played tight on defense, uncharacteristically poor defense when we gave them easy baskets or fouled them.”
“We retained our composure,” Jones said. “We have not always done that this year.”
In the fourth, Chris Parrilli’s 3-pointer gave the Vikings a 38-35 lead, and they hung on to the advantage for several minutes as both teams looked out of synch offensively.
Streamwood finally scored on Zack Harris’s putback with 3:17 to play in the quarter to cut the lead to 38-37.
The Sabres tied it at 38 on a Harris’ free throw with 1:20 to play.
The Vikings then turned the ball over and the Sabres held it for the remainder of regulation, settling for a Harris’ off balance jumper at the buzzer that was nowhere close to falling.
Navigato led Geneva with 22 points and Parrilli added eight. Siewert and Harris topped Streamwood scorers with 11 points each.
