Boys basketball: Ralston keeps Vikes ‘focused, organized, prepared’

Coaching the Geneva boys basketball team to Peoria would have been a top career highlight regardless.

But Vikings coach Phil Ralston said it was “absolutely” extra gratifying considering what Geneva had to do to make it.

The Vikings faced a highly rigorous postseason path; all seven of the teams they faced, beginning with DeKalb in a regional semifinal, exceeded 20 wins on the season.

Despite the degree of difficulty and drastically differing styles of play among postseason foes, Ralston’s Vikings found solutions, ousting DeKalb, St. Charles East, Rockford Jefferson, Rockford Auburn and Lake Park en route to finishing fourth in Class 4A.

As strong of a team as the towering Vikings (30-5) were, many suspected they would struggle to survive their loaded regional, which culminated with a much-hyped showdown against East, their Upstate Eight Conference River co-champion.

“If the season had ended there, we would have said, ‘Hey, what a great year,’ ” Ralston said. “And then to go on and win the sectional … fantastic.”

Ralston, the repeat Kane County Chronicle Boys Basketball Coach of the Year, steered the Vikings to their first downstate appearance since 1963 and the program’s first 30-win season since then.

It wasn’t just the rugged postseason competition that posed challenges. Although Geneva’s unprecedented height put the Vikings in an enviable position, the team’s nontraditional makeup also presented quirks that needed to be addressed.

The Vikings had few ball-handling options, and their backcourt conundrum became especially pronounced when Pace Temple missed the 2014 portion of the schedule mending a knee injury. Ralston also had to navigate the potential for sulking over playing time as a glut of big men created a crowded rotation.

Through it all, the Vikings played to their strengths in the paint and kept winning, rolling to a 16-game winning streak that ended in the regular-season finale at Larkin.

Identifying ways to keep standout senior Nate Navigato clicking despite opponents’ best-laid defensive plans was among Ralston’s top priorities. The program’s all-time leading scorer thrived as a senior, averaging 20.5 points while being the go-to guy in the clutch.

“A lot of what we do offensively is we try to be hard to guard,” Ralston said. “We know that Nate’s going to draw everyone’s best defender, but we try to make it as difficult for whoever that best defender is to be able to hang on him.”

Navigato credited Ralston for helping him pick up some of the nuances that allowed him to put defenders in a lurch.

“[Ralston] tells me sometimes to come off screens in different ways, sometimes I use them to curl or something, and then [my teammates] always do a good job of getting me the ball and giving it to me in good position to shoot,” Navigato said.

Ralston’s 250th career victory – counting his previous tenure at Grant – came in Geneva’s sectional championship triumph against Auburn, and he has a 143-67 record during his seven-year run with the Vikings.

His switching defenses, emphasis on sound shot selection and growing skills as a delegator – he said he wasn’t as much of a “tyrant” this year, leaning more heavily on assistants Scott Hennig and Rob Wicinski – netted championship results.

“I think my role here is to try to keep the kids focused, organized, prepared for what they’re going to see,” Ralston said. “And then it’s their opportunity to perform on the floor.”