Cary-Grove beats Geneva to place 5th at Hinkle Holiday Classic

ALGONQUIN – Cary-Grove felt like it let a big opportunity slip away following a 58-41 loss to top-seeded Waubonsie Valley in its quarterfinal game at Jacobs’ Hinkle Holiday Classic earlier in the week.

“It was definitely a good eye-opener to see the competition we can play at, especially against Waubonsie Valley,” said junior center Adam Bauer, who made the all-tournament team. “We learned that we can play at a high level. With a better shooting night, that’s a much closer game and it could go either way. They have an incredible amount of talent.”

The Trojans didn’t let their setback against Waubonsie Valley affect them much at all. C-G came back with two straight victories to end the tournament feeling good, including a 59-46 win over Geneva on Friday in the fifth-place game.

Cary-Grove (10-4), which finished 3-1 in the 16-team, bracket-style tournament, never trailed against Geneva (11-2), which entered the tournament with a perfect record.

The Trojans held the Vikings to nine points in the first quarter and eight in the second for a 35-17 lead at halftime.

Junior guard AJ Berndt led C-G with 15 points, including three 3s, along with six assists and four steals. Senior Justice German chipped in 13 points and three 3s, and Bauer (six rebounds) and junior Dylan Dumele both had nine points. Junior Brady Albert finished with eight points.

The Trojans shot 60% (15 of 25) from the field and made only five turnovers in the first half.

“I felt like we played really well all tournament,” C-G coach Adam McCloud said. “I feel like we’re battle tested. We had a great week of prep. To get three wins and the only team we lost to being the No. 1 seed, I do feel real good with where we are at.”

Berndt had five of his six assists in the first half with six Trojans scoring. Berndt, along with Bauer and German, got lots of valuable minutes last winter and have helped lead the Trojans to an impressive start after going 15-16 in 2023-24.

“We’ve learned we can play with pretty much anybody,” Berndt said. “Today we came out as the more aggressive team and we pushed the tempo, got in fast break a lot and really just had more energy than them the first half. That was probably one of our best, if not our best, defensive game of the year.”

Geneva was led by senior guard Jack Hatton’s 13 points and senior forward Hudson Kirby’s 12 points and six rebounds. Junior guard Gabe Jensen had eight points, including two 3s, and was named to the all-tournament team. Junior guard Nate Palmer tossed in five points and a 3.

Geneva coach Scott Hennig felt his team got off to too slow of a start and couldn’t recover. The Vikings trailed 48-31 entering the fourth quarter and cut the Trojans’ lead to 12 on a corner 3 by Jensen with about five minutes left.

But that’s as close as they would get.

“[Cary-Grove] was playing harder, and I felt like we just got off to a bad start,” Hennig said. “Couldn’t make shots, lots of turnovers and not getting back in transition. They have a nice team. They made some nice shots, and their big kid [Bauer] is really good. We’ve just got to fix it. We’ve got to get better from here.”

The Trojans will get a short holiday break before getting ready for their second-half nonconference opener against Wilmot (Wisconsin) on Jan. 4. C-G then gets back into Fox Valley Conference play against Crystal Lake Central and Crystal Lake South on Jan. 8 and 10, respectively.

“This is a big step in the right direction,” Berndt said. “Our confidence level is very high now. We’ve got some tougher games at the end of our schedule, but we know we can play with anyone after this week.”