Boys basketball: Geneva’s Gabe Jensen heats up in cold gym with career-high 18, tops Downers Grove South in OT

GENEVA – There was no heat in Geneva’s gym Nov. 24, but that didn’t stop Geneva guard Gabe Jensen from warming up.

“At the start it didn’t really affect me at all,” Jensen said. “Because when I get a sweat going, I really don’t feel it.”

With most of the fans bundled up in winter coats, Jensen was cooking at both ends of the court. The 5-foot-10 sophomore scored a career-high 18 points to go with five steals and three assists to help the host Vikings to a 58-53 overtime victory over Downers Grove South.

The battle of unbeatens was a hard-fought defensive slugfest, which proved to be right up Jensen’s alley.

“I’ve pretty much gotten used to it at this point,” Jensen said. “Nothing really scares me because I know what I’m capable of and what I can do.”

Jensen sank 5-of-8 shots, including two 3-pointers, and went 6-for-8 from the free-throw line. All but five of his points came after intermission, including a 3-pointer that broke a 28-28 halftime tie.

“He works hard,” Geneva coach Scott Hennig said. “He’s got a very competitive spirit in terms of he’s just a winner.

“He’s got older siblings – Max played here a couple years ago – so I think he kind of knows what to expect. I thought he played really well tonight.”

The Vikings (3-0) needed every bit of effort from the varsity rookie, as well as everyone else. Downers South (2-1) led 41-39 before Jensen made two technical foul shots at the 2:24 mark of the fourth quarter.

Jensen followed with a steal at half court and a layup with 49 seconds left. That gave the Vikings a 43-41 lead.

Geneva led 45-42 until Downers South’s Daniel Sveiteris drained a contested 3-pointer at the buzzer to force overtime.

“It gave us a chance,” Downers South coach Zach Miller said. “I felt like the momentum was kind of going our way and then some shots didn’t fall.”

Hardly anything fell during the overtime, which became a free-throw shooting contest. The Mustangs made the only basket of the period, but the Vikings made 13 of 18 foul shots, starting with a pair from Jensen nine seconds into overtime. The Mustangs missed five of their first seven free throws in overtime.

Was Jensen deflated by Sveiteris’ buzzer-beater? Not in the slightest.

“It’s just one shot,” Jensen said. “It doesn’t really affect us. I just know what we can do as a team. Down the stretch, we had them the entire time.”

Hudson Kirby had 13 points and three blocks for Geneva. Jack Hatton added nine points, five rebounds, two steals and two assists. Brady Kafka had eight points.

Jalen House paced Downers South with 13 points. Sveiteris and Keon Maggitt added 10 points each and Justin Sveiteris chipped in eight points, a game-high 11 rebounds and three blocks.

“We just didn’t make plays,” Miller said. “Credit to Geneva. Their pressure I think caused us some fits and we just didn’t take care of it offensively.”

Jensen had something to do with that.

“He was able to attack and gouge some gaps a little bit and break our defense down, but I was actually happy with the way we defended,” Miller said. “They’re a big set-oriented team and they weren’t able to run many sets. We kind of made it into a track meet. We just didn’t make enough plays when it mattered.”