RICH KELLY
CONNEAUT — In about as tight a defensive struggle as a basketball fan could want, the Geneva Eagles gathered just enough offense at the right moment to claim a thrilling 54-51 non-conference win over Conneaut at Garcia Gymnasium.
Down, 49-48, with 1:55 to play in the extra session, Conneaut’s Josh Furmage (23 points, 7 steals) stole the ball near midcourt and scored, Geneva’s Adam Sturkie tallied his second hoop of the game and added a free throw to give the Eagles a lead, 51-49, they barely held until Bunnell missed a long, off-balance 3-point try at the buzzer.
“Adam Sturkie really came up with a couple big hoops for us tonight late in the game,” Geneva coach John Marhefka said. “He’s worked so hard to get playing time, and he’s making the most of it in his senior year with us. Our guys did a great job tonight on defense, and Coach Tallbacka’s kids did, too.
“He’s an excellent tactician at the game and always has his kids prepared for us. We got big plays from several kids tonight as they keyed on Tyler Erb, and we had enough to win the game.”
Erb paced the Eagles with 16 points, including a dozen from the foul line as both defenses shut down the opposing offenses after a rough first period.
“We didn’t play well defensively in the first period,” Conneaut coach Tim Tallbacka said. “We know the Princeton offense just like they do, and it is a credit to our kids that they kept their composure and came back to tie the game.
“It took a great effort to come back, but we just couldn’t sustain the effort at the end. Josh had a big game for us scoring and with steals, and I’m proud of how we kept our focus the whole way.”
Starting the second period, down 19-12, Conneaut went on a 5-0 run to cut the Eagles’ lead to a bucket, but Geneva (3-7) answered with an 8-0 spurt to pull away again, and they held that lead until a Bunnell hoop with 3:13 to go in the third quarter tied the game at 31-31.
Six more ties sent the game to an extra session all knotted up at 46-46.
Furmage’s 23 points was the only double-digit effort for the Spartans (5-5).
Kelly is a freelance writer from Jefferson.
