When Sterling made its run in the third quarter to make Saturday’s matchup a one-point game, Rochelle needed a spark.

Senior guard Van Gerber provided it.

Gerber scored seven of his game-high 24 points in the third to help supply the Hubs with a response in a 70-57 nonconference win at home.

Sterling’s Jack Saathoff and Xavian Prather had back-to-back buckets to cut Rochelle’s lead to 40-39, but Rochelle (7-5) answered as its offense got back on track and turnovers piled up for the Golden Warriors (4-9).

“I’m just glad that my teammates were trusting me to shoot the ball,” Gerber said. “I just kept shooting.”

Gerber finished the game with four 3-pointers and scored 16 points in the second half.

“That’s a senior leader for you,” Rochelle coach Tim Thompson said. “To be successful you have to have good quality seniors and Van has played for me for three years. He can really shoot the ball and he was going to the rim a little bit today.

“He made some big shots in that time that kind of just extended the lead.”

Thompson was happy with how the team responded after nearly letting the lead slip away.

“I knew Sterling wasn’t going to go away. They were putting a lot of pressure on us,” he said. “We weren’t hitting shots at the time and they started to make some shots. Our kids really weathered the storm there.”

Rochelle’s Warren Schweitzer had nine of his 12 points in the first half as the Hubs led 38-29 at the break.

The 6-foot-7 Schweitzer and 6-foot-5 Eli Schweitzer (12 points) were a challenge to defend with 6-foot-6 AJ Coleman Sterling’s only post player.

Coleman, Saathoff and Prather all scored 11 points for the Warriors. DeAndre Maas and Brady Berlin each scored 10 for Sterling.

The Warriors had 15 turnovers and a number of shots go in and out in the loss.

“They just outrebounded us,” Saathoff said. “They pushed more in transition and we just couldn’t fight back.”

Sterling missed an open 3-pointer to end the third quarter and trailed 52-44 to start the fourth. Gerber scored nine more points in the frame as the Warriors fell short.

“They had more energy,” Saathoff said. “They were scoring more in transition, getting more rebounds and we just couldn’t make any shots.”

Gerber said the team was confident and trusted each other with the ball as the Hubs pulled away in the fourth.

“We were able to get buckets whenever,” he said, “and we were playing good defense.”

Rochelle is adjusting to the absence of 6-5 junior Brody Bruns, who is out with an ankle injury. Thompson hopes he can be back in a month or two. He was averaging 20 points and 12 rebounds.

“We’re playing more bigs than we usually do, and it was good to see Eli Schweitzer off the bench, only a sophomore, come in and get double figures,” Thompson said. “We have had a size advantage ... being able to get the ball inside as well as on the defensive end handling the big guy from Sterling [Coleman].

“It’s only going to make us better in February with these guys having to take on different roles. And when Brody comes back, hopefully we don’t miss a beat.”

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Sterling’s Brady Berlin is fouled by Rochelle’s Van Gerber Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (Alex T. Paschal)