Boys basketball: Sterling dominates opening quarter, rolls past Geneseo in first game of new year

STERLING – The Sterling Golden Warriors rang in the new year with a resounding 70-38 win over the Geneseo Maple Leafs Friday night at Musgrove Fieldhouse.

In the opening quarter, they amassed a 17-point lead. With big second and third quarters, they finished off the lopsided Western Big 6 win.

Lucas Austin’s 14 first-quarter points led the Warriors (14-3, 4-1 WB6) to the fast start.

Although Geneseo (0-14) showed some fight early, and took a 10-7 lead on an Owen Parker right-wing 3 with 4:45 still to play in the first quarter, the rest of the game was dictated by Sterling.

“They’re very athletic and strong. They’re older than us and stronger than us,” Geneseo coach Brad Storm said. “That’s a tough matchup for us, because we’re young and not as strong and not as big or as athletic. That was the first place it went wrong, was just the matchup.”

An Austin putback made it a one-point game with just under four minutes left in the first, then an Austin and-1 layup off a Klaver drive-and-dish across the baseline regained the lead at 12-10.

Klaver scored seven of the last nine points in the quarter, hitting a top-of-the-key 3 for a 21-10 lead with 1:19 remaining, then scoring on a quick drive to the basket about 30 seconds later, before hitting a pair of free throws with 6.3 seconds left to make it 27-10 Sterling.

“We were quick on defense, we got steals. We ran the floor, we got layups, we got shots,” Austin said, commenting on how Sterling built its big lead. “We got what we wanted. We just need to keep doing that.”

The second quarter was more of the same, as the Warriors outpaced the Maple Leafs 22-7.

Austin opened the quarter with a layup at the 6:31 mark, then grabbed a steal and assisted a Klaver dunk for a 31-10 lead about 12 seconds later.

With just under a minute to play, Kael Ryan drove the lane from the left wing and converted a layup for a 47-17 lead. Klaver hit a cutting Carter Chance in the lane for a layup on the next possession to cap the first-half scoring at 49-17.

“Being in their bubble and denying what they wanted to do allowed us to get out on the fast break a lot, and it just stopped their overall offense,” Klaver said.

In the third quarter, the Warriors outscored the Maple Leafs 17-15.

Kaedon Phillips led a six-point swing early in the quarter, sinking a pair of free throws with 6:28 to go, then putting back a miss for a 59-22 lead, before getting a tip steal and fast-break assist to Klaver.

With a 61-22 lead and 5:09 left in the third quarter, Sterling took out its starting lineup. With a comfortable lead so early in the second half, the Warriors had the luxury of playing their entire bench.

At the end of the game, 14 players made a statistical contribution of some sort, whether a basket, steal or rebound.

“It feels good to know that the work everyone puts into practice gets to pay off, and not just for the people who usually get in the games,” Klaver said. “To be able to celebrate that with them was really fun.”

“It’s great to get the whole team involved because we’re all here at practice working hard, hanging out. We’re all friends,” Austin added. “It’s really fun when everybody gets involved and we’re all having fun.”

Austin led Sterling with 20 points, five rebounds, a steal and an assist, while Klaver totaled 19 points, four assists, three rebounds and two steals, Phillips tallied eight points and three steals, and Chance chipped in seven points and three rebounds.

Parker paced Geneseo with 12 points, while Lonnie Catour and Landon Nordstrom added six points apiece.

“We were letting them get to the rim way too often. They were scoring layups,” Storm said. “Some of it was bad half-court defense. A lot of it was transition off turnovers or missed shots where we just didn’t stop the ball, let them get to the rim, or let them get to the rim and kick it out. That was the first thing we tried to fix. And we tried to go to a zone. I don’t know that that really helped. We still turned it over and gave up a lot of transition. That was probably the biggest thing. ... They sped us up because they’re bigger, stronger, athletic and fast, and when we get sped up, we just get out of our offense too easily.”