Genoa-Kingston’s red-hot shooting, 28-0 run lead to victory in IHSA playoff opener

GENOA – Genoa-Kingston boys basketball coach Griffin McNeal said his team has underachieved on 3-point shots this year.

They made up for it Monday, making 11 of their 12 shots from long range in the first half to knock off North Boone 68-44 in a first-round game of the Class 2A Rockford Christian Regional.

“We have a ton of guys who can shoot it, and you saw that, especially in the first quarter,” McNeal said. “Four or five different guys hit it. It’s something the kids take a lot of pride in and I think at times it hasn’t been there this year, especially out of the gate. But they came out of the gate hot and made a lot of shots.”

With the win, the Cogs (14-15) will face Rockford Christian (24-5) in a semifinal at 6 p.m. Wednesday.

The Cogs used a 28-0 run between the first and second quarters to open up a 33-6 lead on a 3-pointer by Nathan Kleba, the fifth Cog to drain a 3 in the first half.

Hayden Hodgson came out red-hot in the first half, scoring 11 points on 4-of-4 shooting, including three 3-pointers.

“We’re all unselfish and finding the shooter, and just making shots,” Hodgson said. “They were in a 1-2-2 [zone defense] so we knew if we swung the ball quick we could get open looks.”

North Boone (13-19) went 7:57 without scoring and 9:13 without a field goal between the first and second quarters and the Cogs carried a 48-22 lead into the break.

G-K had a 23-11 edge on the boards in the first half. McNeal said he liked how the Cogs limited the Vikings to one shot to keep their offensive momentum going.

“It’s tough to rebound it when it’s going in every single time,” said McNeal, whose Cogs allowed four offensive rebounds in the first half. “I think defensively we did a good job holding them to one [shot] most possessions. Our zone gets a little goofy to rebound out of sometimes.”

North Boone scored 20 points in the third quarter, just two less than they scored in the first half.

But the Cogs still kept that lead at around 20 thanks to Marcus Johnson, who scored nine of the Cogs' 13 points in the third quarter, all on three-point plays after driving to the rim.

“Once those teams are down, we knew they’d have to come out of their zone or else we would have ran the clock out, would have been an easy blowout,” said Johnson, who led the Cogs with 19 points and three steals. “Getting to the rim was pretty easy in the second half. But we came out a little flat, definitely could have done better.”

McNeal said ball movement was key to the 3-point shooting of the Cogs early.

“Getting into the paint and forcing those guys to close in and leave the shooters open was really working,” Johnson said. “Passing the ball around, making the one more pass was really working to get those 3s.”

Hodgson finished with 13 points and seven rebounds, Kleba had six points, two steals and a game-high nine rebounds. Cody Carvatta had 10 points and six rebounds off the bench.

The Cogs went the final 5:19 of the game without scoring and the Vikings closed the contest on a 10-0 run.

“They’re kids and when you’re up 22 it’s easy to look at the scoreboard and just be like oh, we’re good. I thought we did some good things, maybe not the same level of energy.”

JJ Ford had 14 points, six rebounds and two blocks to pace the Vikings. Azriel Dixon had 13 points and Michael Persson had six points and a team-high 11 boards.

The Cogs face the Royal Lions in a semifinal on Wednesday. Rockford Christian won the team’s meeting on Feb. 1, 91-61.

McNeal said the Cogs showed what they can do offensively in the first half on Monday and hopes that continues on Wednesday.

“The shooting you saw early in the game, that’s definitely something we’re capable of,” McNeal said. “During practice you see those runs quite a bit. ... But it’s easier said than done.”