Boys basketball: Josh Bunting, Genoa-Kingston avenge loss to former coach, Sycamore

SYCAMORE – What a difference two months and a regular start time make.

After losing to Sycamore and former head coach Ethan Franklin at the Marengo Christmas tournament, Genoa-Kingston returned the favor with a 70-63 win to close out the regular season for both teams Wednesday.

“It has me feeling pretty good, to be honest,” said senior Josh Bunting, who led three Cogs in double figures with 17 points. “If we play like this, all four quarters like we did tonight, I think we’ll go pretty far.”

Sycamore (11-19) won a matchup between the schools Dec. 27, 52-31. That was a morning game on the heels of a buzzer-beater loss in the first round for the Cogs (11-19).

G-K coach Griffin McNeal, who replaced Franklin at the helm of the Cogs, said he was pleased with the way his squad played Wednesday.

“It’s a lot easier to get up for a 7 o’clock game against the guy who coached you last year,” McNeal said. “I think that helped them a little bit.”

Sycamore led early, but the Cogs took a 42-32 lead into halftime. The Spartans trimmed it to 48-44 on a Lucas Winburn bucket, part of a 21-point, seven-rebound performance for the senior.

The Cogs scored the next seven as part of a larger 16-2 run to put the game away. Bunting had 11 of those points, with all 11 coming from Sycamore turnovers.

“We kept communicating on defense, and the 2-3 [zone] worked pretty good,” Bunting said. “We’ve been working on it all week.”

Traven Atterberry and Hayden Hodgson each scored 16 for the Cogs, while Atterberry and Nathan Skarzynski each had five rebounds. Teague Hallahan had 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Spartans, while Burke Gautcher added 11.

“I didn’t think we brought the energy and effort it takes to win a basketball game that we’ve shown throughout the year,” Franklin said. “It wasn’t there for some reason. It came back to bite us. There’s no way you cannot bring full energy every game and expect to win basketball games.”

The Cogs open the postseason at 4 p.m. Saturday against Aurora Central Catholic (11-19) in a Class 2A Genoa-Kingston Regional play-in game, with the winner facing Rockford Christian (27-2) at 6 p.m. Wednesday.

“It’s been a big week, so we’re going to be scouting hard the next couple days to throw together a game plan for these guys, give us the best shot,” McNeal said. “They’re a good team, but if we play well, we can get it done.”

The Spartans will face Kaneland at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in a Class 3A Kaneland Regional semifinal.

“That was a tough one for me, for all those guys,” Franklin said. “It’s a tough way for our seniors to end out their last home game. We have to find a way to get better.”