Motivated Evans fuels Neuqua Valley rout

Neuqua Valley's Dwayne Evans reacts after being fouled in the third quarter against Geneva.
(Scott Powers/For the Sun-Times News Group)

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Neuqua Valley's Dwayne Evans wasn't sure exactly why he was lit up for technical in the first quarter against Geneva on Tuesday.

According to Evans, he and a Geneva player were fighting for the ball, and the opponent went flying to the ground. Evans described it as a flop. A moment later, he was called for tech. Evans denied saying anything to the official or reacting negatively.

Whatever the reason, Evans became a different player after that. And with a motivated Evans, No. 7 Neuqua Valley took an early deficit and quickly turned it into a 64-45 nonconference blowout in Geneva.

"After the technical call, I stepped it up a bit," Evans said. "I don't know what happened. I wasn't happy with the call. I don't want to say I wanted to take it out on the other team, but I wanted to get it back."

Even in the third quarter with the Wildcats up by as many as 26 points, Evans was still looking for revenge. When he dropped in a layup and was fouled with 1:04 left in the quarter, the way Evans slapped teammates' hands and reacted was as if it was a nail-biter. He would finish with 12 points, nine rebounds and a block.

Geneva did lead 6-4 with 2:09 remaining in the first quarter thanks to its slow-tempo offense. After that, the Wildcats went on a 9-0 run to the end quarter as they stopped Geneva on four consecutive possessions, which included forcing three turnovers. Neuqua Valley (24-1) opened the second quarter on a 11-3 run to put the game out of reach.

"We knew it was coming," said Neuqua Valley assistant coach Bob Vozza, who was put in charge for the day by head coach Todd Sutton. "I didn't know it was going to be that slow. I liked how our guys reacted to it. We hadn't seen that all year."

Kareem Amedu (12 points, six rebounds) and Derek Raridon (13 points, two steals) contributed in the win.

Jeremy D'Amico scored a game-high 21 points and added four rebounds and four steals for Geneva (17-6).