Five Takeaways: Genesis Shootout Early Games
The 24th annual Genesis Shootout took place at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois over the weekend, pitting seven teams from the Iowa side of the Mississippi River against seven teams from the Illinois side. Iowa won the event for the third year in a row, evening the series up at 11-11-2, with a 5-2 edge this year. Davenport Central, Davenport West, Davenport North, North Scott and Pleasant Valley all won their games, while Bettendorf and Davenport Assumption took the two losses for Iowa. Below are a few takeaways we had from the Central, Bettendorf and Assumption games. (Articles were already written about the West and North games, and an article on the North Scott and Pleasant Valley games will follow later on.)
Team | 1Q | 2Q | 3Q | 4Q | F |
Davenport Central | 11 | 16 | 17 | 17 | 61 |
Riverdale IL | 15 | 14 | 15 | 12 | 56 |
Central scoring: Adin DeLaRosa 23, Keyshawn Pegues 14, Ralph Hayes 13, Momo Kargbo 5, Jarren Andrews 4, Eli Wallace 2
Team | 1Q | 2Q | 3Q | 4Q | F |
Bettendorf | 10 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 31 |
Galesburg IL | 21 | 14 | 17 | 15 | 67 |
Bettendorf scoring: Devynn Wakefield 9, Lucas Hayes 6, Ty Alexander 4, Peter Bauer 4, Tyler Wellman 3, Brant Mueller 2, Blake Tyler 2, Trevor Feller 1
Team | 1Q | 2Q | 3Q | 4Q | F |
Davenport Assumption | 4 | 9 | 8 | 18 | 39 |
United Township IL | 5 | 16 | 10 | 13 | 44 |
Assumption scoring: Sean Peeters 13, Trent Fitzpatrick 10, Ray Thrapp 10, Ray Kotula 3, Logan Klemme 3
Adin DeLaRosa’s big game for Central
The Blue Devils were playing without arguably their top two players on Saturday, Nathan Tyson and Diontrel Wommack. Both had played the night before against Muscatine, but were missing for this game. So in stepped junior guard Adin DeLaRosa, who scored a career high 23 points in leading Central to a come-from-behind win to open up the Shootout. He was 9-14 from the floor (3-6 from 3), had three rebounds and three steals. He helped spark a defense that ultimately created 24 turnovers from Riverdale (IL), and he was consistent throughout the entire game. He scored 14 first half points to help keep the game close, then added another nine, while his teammates got more involved, in the second half to get a big win for the Devils.
Blue Devils building for next year
Central has an extremely young group this year after losing a lot of senior production from last year’s team. The starting lineup for this game was five juniors (Momo Kargbo, Jon Lewis, Adin DeLaRosa, Eli Wallace, Keyshawn Pegues), and the top contributor off the bench (Ralph Hayes) was another junior. Diontrel Wommack, their third leading scorer heading into the game, is another junior. The only senior who plays significant minutes is Nathan Tyson. So while the Devils may take some lumps this year, they’ll have at least seven key players returning for next year, so this season should be about improving as the season progresses and carrying some momentum into next season, where they could be one of the best in the MAC.
Injuries to stars really damage Bettendorf/Assumption’s chances
Bettendorf’s star guard DJ Carton is out for an undetermined amount of time with a wrist injury, while Assumption’s top scoring threat, and potential Division I player, junior wing Dylan Peeters is nursing a back injury. Without those players, there just isn’t enough firepower on either roster to score. The teams averaged 35 points in their games, and combined to have 39 turnovers. If both of those players are out for a big chunk of time coming up, it really does damage to what could’ve been an interesting league race with plenty of teams involved. Assumption was picked to finish third in the league, but they’ll struggle to win against non-Clinton/Burlington/Davenport Central teams in the league until Peeters is back.
Sean Peeters has a chance to be really good
The sophomore forward is the younger brother of Assumption’s star, and where Dylan is long and lanky, Sean is really well built, almost looking more like a linebacker than a basketball player. He’s an explosive athlete who finishes well around the rim, rebounds at a high level and is working on adding a jumper to his arsenal. There are certainly tools here for him to be really good, especially if he’s able to grow another 2-4 inches. He finished with a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds.
Turnovers are a killer (duh)
It’s no coincidence that the two worst offensive performances of the day came in games where teams turned the ball over a ton. Bettendorf had 18 turnovers and a 32.5% turnover rate (32.5% of their possessions ended in a turnover), while Assumption had 21 turnovers and a 36.6% rate. You can’t turn the ball over that frequently and get any sort of offensive rhythm going. Some of it can be credited to the defense that Galesburg and United Township, respectively, played, but not all of it. You can’t have careless mistakes, and certainly not this many live ball turnovers that lead to points the other way. This is an area that needs to be cleaned up by both teams, and in a hurry.