Lions too much for Genoa-Kingston

Updated: March 23, 2011 3:48PM

Despite a spirited performance from Brett Lucca and a scrappy Genoa-Kingston squad, the Rockford Christian Lions proved to be too much on Friday night defeating the Cogs 63-50 in the Genoa-Kingston Sectional Final.

While the game goes down in the record books as a neural court match, it was anything but for the Lions who had to fend off not only the Cogs but the crowd. The game was held in Genoa and the local supporters made themselves known right from the opening introductions.

"We have to use hand signals because the guys can't hear me. But this (the atmosphere) doesn't faze them they have been in this before several times," Rockford Christian coach Shane Bautch said. "I thought we played good defense but they (Genoa-Kingston) hit some amazing shots."

The Cogs (14-16) never led in the game, however every time a run was made by Rockford Christian, it was answered. Rockford Christian (30-0) had their biggest lead of 19 points with 2:54 remaining in the third quarter. The Cogs responded by knocking down three straight 3-pointers with the last one coming from Lucca as time expired in the quarter to cut the lead to 10.

"That shot was big for us because it gave us some momentum as we head into the fourth quarter and kept us in the game," Lucca said They (Rockford Christian) are a very good team though and they are tough to match up against. We had some tired legs at the end."

In the opening 2:32 of the fourth quarter, the Lions went on a 12-4 run to increase their lead to 18 and seemingly looked like they were going to put the Cogs away quietly. Lucca again rallied the troops and his three pointer from the left elbow not only broke an over four minute scoreless run, it also sparked a 10-0 run that cut the lead to eight with 1:39 remaining.

It was too little too late though as the Lions were disciplined from the line, hitting 7 of 8 foul shots to close out the game. Lucca finished with a team-high 23 points with 16 points coming in the second half.

"We showed what we have done all year which is if we got down, we are capable of having a run in us. They (Rockford Christian) are so difficult to match-up against and the combination of size and shooting is just deadly," Cogs coach Corey Jenkins said. "I don't think we executed as well as we did against Rock Falls or even the regional championship game but our underclassmen got a lot of experience tonight."

Bryan Baumgarten finished with 17 points, including a team-best five, 3-pointers for the Cogs.

Brayden Teuscher led Rockford Christian with 29 points including a perfect 12 for 12 at the free throw line. Art ford was the only other Lion in double figures with 12 points.

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