Boys Basketball: Minooka finds another Geers vs. Plainfield Central
By Dick Goss dgoss@stmedianetwork.com January 19, 2013 12:24AM
Minooka's Mark Tomac-Geers (50) drives around Plainfield Central's Duvaun Goodlow (23) held at Plainfield Central High School, Illinois and Minooka won 56-43 on Friday January 18, 2013. | Larry Kane~For Sun-Times Media
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Updated: February 21, 2013 6:35AM
Plainfield Central was on the verge of coming all the way back from a poor start.
But Minooka’s 6-foot-7 junior center Mark Geers thought otherwise. The left-hander scored on consecutive half-hooks late in the third quarter Friday night to trigger a 6-0 run and help the No. 8 Indians re-establish a cushion en route to a 56-43 Southwest Prairie road victory.
The Wildcats (6-9, 1-5) had battled back to within 28-24 when Geers delivered for Minooka (10-7, 5-1). After his two big baskets, he added two free throws before the third quarter ended and scored eight of his 11 points in the second half.
“He was a beast tonight,” Minooka coach Scott Tanaka said.
“It wasn’t the plan to go to me,” Geers said. “Sometimes we have to play to where our strength is that night. This or (Plainfield) East probably was my best game.
“Being left-handed, it (half-hook) usually works a couple of times. Then they catch up with it. It’s like, ‘Hey, watch it. He’s a lefty.’ ”
Tanaka liked his team’s balance as Darrin Myers scored 12 points, Jake Hogen 11 and Joe Butler and Perry Jones eight each.
“To win by 13 on a night when you shoot 0-for-12 on threes, at their place when they’ve been playing people tough, that’s impressive,” Tanaka said.
Both teams have heavy schedules because of multigame Martin Luther King tournaments and Tuesday conference games, so both used the bench. Geers, in fact, was the middle man of the “second unit.”
“Butler is more a defensive guy in the post and I’m more offense,” Geers said.
Logan Velasquez scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half and Mitch Young had 10 for Central, which committed 23 turnovers.
“We did a great job forcing them into things they didn’t want to do,” Wildcats coach Steve Lamberti said. “We just couldn’t get over the hump offensively and we fouled too much. They shot 37 free throws. They know how to get to the line.”
