Strong fourth quarter free throw shooting lifts Geneva over Naperville Central

NAPERVILLE – Whoever first said good things come to those who wait most likely wasn’t referring to offense in a prep basketball game. Yet that’s what happened in Friday’s nonconference tilt in Naperville.

After three quarters of sluggish offense from both Geneva and Naperville Central, both teams finally started briskly increasing their scores. Beforehand, the Vikings were better at scoring, and that ultimately made the difference in their 56-48 win.

The Vikings (16-2) held a 29-23 lead over the Redhawks (7-12) going into the fourth quarter, which was indicative of an ugly game to that point. Never was that more obvious than in a third quarter that saw both teams struggle to score. Geneva held only a 6-5 advantage in that frame.

Over the final eight minutes, the teams either surpassed or just missed their entire scoring output through 24 minutes as Geneva outscored Naperville Central 27-25.

The Redhawks never strayed far from the Vikings, and they cut the deficit to 48-43 with 1:49 left. But that was as close as they got the rest of the way as Geneva was able to build its lead back up enough in the remaining time that there was no doubt about the outcome.

The Vikings did most of their damage from the free throw line. They made 25 free throws, including 14 in the fourth quarter, as opposed to 13 field goals.

“We work on it all the time in practice,” Geneva coach Scott Hennig said. “We shoot pressure free throws almost daily. Just stepping up, going through your routine. You talk about it as a little kid, and then, obviously, you translate as they get to high school. Credit to them.”

No one demonstrated those pressure free throws more than Hudson Kirby. He scored a game-high 21 points with 13 coming from the charity stripe, including seven in the fourth quarter.

“We’re a veteran team,” Kirby said. “We know what to do. We know what needs to be done — just holding the ball, no turnovers and making free throws.”

Kirby got support from Dane Turner, who scored six of his nine points on a pair of 3-pointers. Also contributing were John Tweed off the bench with seven points and Gabe Jensen with six points, all of them off free throws.

TJ Hillman paced the Redhawks with 16 points, including three 3-pointers. Cooper Page came off the bench and had 11 points with three of his own 3s. Connor Sands scored seven.

“I think that’s why you play Kaneland, that’s why you play Geneva nonconference,” Naperville Central coach Mike Wilson said. “We’re trying to get ready for the second round of (DuPage Valley Conference) games, which we know are going to be tough. So putting ourselves in a position to be challenged like this is only going to help us later in the year in the postseason.”

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