GENEVA - They definitely have the look of a No. 1 seed.
Online voting begins today for the 22 coaches in the upcoming IHSA Class 4A Oswego East Sectional complex, and Neuqua Valley made a strong case for the top spot Tuesday night with its 64-45 manhandling of 17-win Geneva.
The Vikings' patient attack slowed the Wildcat express for the opening six minutes, but the 24-1 visitors went on a 15-0 run over a 4:38 stretch spanning the end of the first quarter and beginning of the second that pretty much decided things.
"They're good," Geneva coach Phil Ralston said. "They're solid at every position. They're deep. Guys that they bring off the bench are not far from the guys in the starting lineup."
Geneva's 6-foot-6 Jeremy D'Amico made a steal and layup with 2:06 remaining in the opening quarter to give his team a 6-4 lead. The Vikings didn't score again until there was 4:43 left in the second, when D'Amico (game-high 21 points) canned a 3-pointer.
In between, Neuqua Valley got contributions from Derek Raridon (13 points), Dwayne Evans (12 points, nine rebounds) and Kareem Amedu (12 points, six rebounds) to fuel the lopsided run.
"I'd like to believe we're a little bit better defensive team than we showed tonight," said Ralston, whose club falls to 17-6. "We were in position on a lot of their shots but they just hit them. That's talent right there."
Neuqua Valley, which played the game under the guidance of associate head coach Bob Vozza, connected on 22 of 44 shots from the floor and led 27-11 at intermission and boosted it to 48-25 after three quarters.
"I do it every year," Neuqua Valley coach Todd Sutton said of handing the reigns to his assistant.
And Tuesday's non-conference tilt was a good one since it was a return home, of sorts, for Vozza. He was an assistant to former Geneva head coach Tim Pease from 1992-95. And he played for Pease as a freshman and sophomore in high school when the latter coached at Waubonsie Valley in the late 1980s.
Vozza will come full circle next year when he starts the program at Metea Valley.
"The kids respond to both of us," Vozza said. "It doesn't matter who is standing up there (in front of the bench).
"We haven't seen that all year. I knew Geneva slowed it down and took their time but I didn't know it was going to be that slow. I was happy with how our guys responded."
Key was the defensive effort Raridon had on D'Amico, who averages about 22 points for the Vikings.
"They run a lot of stuff through him. If you want to be successful against them you have to shut him down a little bit," said the 6-6 Raridon, who did just that.
"Coming in I was a little nervous, especially when I got that first foul. But he took a lot of tough shots and, fortunately, they didn't go in. He's just quick and he's got some size and he's a great shooter, too. You've got to respect his drive and shooting from outside."
D'Amico had only six points midway through the third quarter, when Neuqua Valley led 40-18. Fifteen of his points came after that and no one else for Geneva came closer to double figures than Rob Tauscher's six points.
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