Boys Basketball: Geneva holds off furious St. Charles East comeback

GENEVA – Pat Woods unhesitatingly absolved Rahul Gor of any wrongdoing Thursday night in Geneva.

Gor spearheaded a furious comeback by the St. Charles East boys basketball team in a DuKane Conference game against Geneva.

Gor looked to be the ultimate hero after canning consecutive 3-pointers.

But the senior had his potential game-tying front end of a bonus free throw rim out.

Geneva then iced its 54-51 victory at the free-throw line to hand the Saints yet another dispiriting loss.

“The free throw is in the spotlight,” Woods said. " The free throw didn’t cost us the game. There were plenty of things before that; we missed rebounds, we missed layups.”

The Saints certainly belied a one-win team with their fourth-quarter effort.

St. Charles East had more points in the final quarter — 26 — than it could accumulate in the opening three quarters.

Geneva (10-5, 2-3) entered the fourth quarter holding a 41-25 cushion.

“I tell you this: they have probably played the toughest schedule in the state,” Geneva coach Scott Hennig said of the Saints. “There are no nights off in this league.”

“I think we are the best 1-13 team in the country,” Woods said. “(We) played hard and never quit. We fell behind early, 9-0, but I thought we outplayed them the rest of the night.”

The Saints are 0-5 in league play.

The Vikings roared out of the gate as Jimmy Rasmussen snared the opening tip and scored five seconds into the game.

There would ultimately be neither a deadlock nor a lead change as Geneva scored 18 of the first 21 points.

“I thought we moved the ball well,” Hennig said.

Michael Lawrence, who tied Gor for game-scoring honors with 17 points, had two first-quarter 3-pointers in leading the Vikings’ game-opening 18-3 run.

“We just got a little comfortable,” Lawrence said. “We didn’t think they would come back like that. They made it a one-possession game (twice) late.”

Gor took over the scoring role Trent Warren fulfilled in the first half.

The latter scored all 13 of his points, including four 3-pointers, in the first two quarters.

Gor had all but two of his 17 points after the break.

Gor went to the line with 22 seconds remaining; the Vikings led 52-51 after Gor hit the last of his three fourth-quarter 3s.

“I feel like that’s on me,” Gor said of missing the front end of the penalty. " We have to start off better at the beginning and not have to come back so hard at the end.”

Lawrence sandwiched four straight Geneva missed free throws to account for the final score.

“We made the plays we had to to win the game,” Lawrence said.

Chris Suger had 12 points for Geneva.

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