Sycamore, on strength of 2nd-chance points, overwhelms Genoa-Kingston

SYCAMORE – Second-chance points Wednesday night helped Sycamore get ready for the postseason as the Spartans overwhelmed Genoa-Kingston in its final nonconference game, 66-50.

Sycamore (21-8) finishes its regular season at home again against Morris on Friday

Genoa-Kingston (14-17) is done with its regular season. The Cogs open the postseason against North Boone on Monday in a Class 2A Rockford Christian Regional.

The Spartans open the playoffs on Wednesday in the Class 3A Woodstock North Regional and will play either the hosts or Harvard.

“I just want to make sure our habits are right,” Sycamore coach Ethan Franklin said. “We’ve got a great opportunity ahead of us as the one seed in our subsectional so we really want to take advantage of it. Every dead ball, every chance I got trying to make sure we had great habits today. I would like to tighten our defense a bit better, keep some guys in front, but overall we kind of settled into the game and found some spots in the zone and forced them to come out of the zone.”

The Spartans used a 9-0 run late in the first quarter to open a 17-11 lead.

They led 30-19 at halftime, getting one particular putback from Unique Shaw after Michael Chami grabbed a rebound, missed his follow, snagged it again, missed it again only for Shaw to be there to clean it up.

“For us being a small team, offensive rebounds, steals, loose balls, those are the types of plays that help us win games,” Shaw said. “Besides Mike (Chami) and injured player (Isaiah) Feuerbach, we don’t have tall people so offensive rebounds help make it so much easier for offense.”

During a 12-0 run in the third quarter which broke the game open, Shaw missed a 3-pointer after forcing a turnover and turning it into two points. The rebound bounded high towards the free throw line where Josiah Mitchell snagged it and then drove the lane, turning it into a three-point play, doubling up the Cogs 42-21.

“We know we have to play hard,” Mitchell said. “On a play like that it’s about making something happen. We want to make sure that we stay consistent on both sides of the floor. “

Mitchell scored all 10 of his points in the second half to join Jake Shipley (12 points) and Shaw (19 points) in double figures. Chami and Carter York each had seven points for the Spartans.

The Sycamore kids stuck around afterward, signing autographs and talking to young future Spartans. It’s been a special regular season.

“Third year for me so a lot of these guys were our core as I brought them up as sophomores,” Franklin said “We talk everyday about making sure we value this and understand that this is special. If it was easy, we would’ve won 20 games the last two years. So it is a beautiful thing we’re doing, and now we’re making sure we’re playing our best at the right time.”

Genoa-Kingston got a layup from Marcus Johnson (12 points) to cut their 21-point deficit in half at 61-50 with 2:30 remaining but would’t score again.

“I felt like we played a little looser,” Genoa-Kingston coach Griffin McNeal said. “I think sometimes maybe they get a little flat, whatever it is. I’m not sure, the rivalry, is it or isn’t a rivalry game? I always looked at it that way even though they are obviously a little bit bigger, but a rivalry game I think, and a lot of nerves.”

Hayden Hodgson led the Cogs with 16 points and Nathan Kleba scored 12.

“They are really good defensively, and I obviously have a lot of respect for Ethan (Franklin),” McNeal said. “He coaches them hard, and they are always ready to go defensively so you’ve got to bring the A game offensively, and I thought we struggled with that early on.”