Nathan Palmer just wanted his first rendition of the Batavia-Geneva rivalry game to come to an end.

After his potential game-winning shot at the end of overtime went wide-right, the Geneva senior found himself with another opportunity to put the game to rest after getting sent to the free-throw line with 1.7 seconds left in the tied game.

And this time? He really didn’t want to miss.

“I really knew I needed to end it right there,” Palmer said. “When I first drove in, I just wanted to finish it there, and then I got the foul, I knew I had to take my time at the free-throw line. I didn’t want to be the reason why we fell short.”

And much like a majority of his shots in the second half, he didn’t miss.

Palmer sunk his first free throw to put Geneva ahead, and also made the second. The Vikings stood tall on the final long heave to secure a 55-53 victory in double overtime over the Bulldogs.

“That was two really good teams going at it in that game,” Vikings coach Scott Hennig said. “I’m super proud of them. We made some mistakes, they made some mistakes. But this is kind of what you expect in this rivalry game in pretty much any sport.”

After the Vikings (8-0 overall, 4-0 DuKane) entered halftime trailing 23-22 and only having five points to his name, Palmer said that he and the team knew that they were definitely in need of a little pick-me-up to get back into the driver’s seat.

“We just weren’t doing our jobs well at the start and we needed to run a better offense,” Palmer said. “But I just felt my rhythm and knew I had to get going.”

And he went going all right. Palmer finished with 17 points across the second half and both overtimes, finishing with a game-high 22 points.

“He was just doing what he does and playing downhill basketball,” Hennig said. “He’s got really good feet, and he’s been one of the best for us.”

Geneva started off the game firing off from behind the 3-point line, especially with senior guard Gabe Jensen (18 points). But even after struggling from beyond the arc, the senior, playing in his fifth varsity rivalry game, didn’t flinch, knocking down his sixth 3-pointer of the night to start the second overtime.

“It just comes with the experience of not wavering,” Jensen said. “I had a few mistakes there in overtime and regulation, and I just moved past those onto the next play to try and come up big.”

Geneva finished the night knocking down 10 3-pointers, including a half-court, buzzer-beating shot to end the first quarter.

“We had a lot of veteran guys step up big,” Hennig said. “They’re just kicking butt on the court.”

It was a more-than courageous effort from the Bulldogs (2-5, 1-3) in the loss. Senior Evan Blankenship tied the game at 45-45 with 11 seconds remaining in regulation to force the game to overtime. He also had the Bulldog’s lone points in the first overtime, a 3-pointer that tied the game at 48-48.

“He had a couple of big shots for us in that game,” Bulldogs coach Jim Nazos said. “He’s starting to do a lot of things for us off of the bench.”

The Bulldogs ended the night trailing by no more than six points throughout the game. Senior Joe Reid led the team with 18 points off of five 3-pointers. Blankenship added 14 and eight rebounds, while senior Xavier Justice dished out eight assists.

“I could not be more proud of these guys,” Nazos said. “I think both teams competed their butts off. We’re going in a good direction, there’s extreme optimism for us as a team. And I think we just got to a point where we just let action happen and saw what shots we could get.”