Three seasons ago, when Gabe Jensen took over as the starting point guard for Geneva, coach Scott Hennig was just getting to understand all of the facets of the youngster’s game.
Early in that season, Hennig referred to how impressed he was with Jensen’s shooting. Now a senior, Jensen has established himself as a sharpshooter from the outside for the Vikings.
Fast forward to Friday night as Jensen made a pair of 3-pointers in the first minute of the game.
“We needed a hot start,” Jensen said. “We knew since they are rivals it’s going to be a close game no matter how good they are or how good we are. We just had to get hot from the start.”
Jensen’s 3-pointers definitely set the tone, but the host Vikings still had to fend off archrival Batavia all night in capturing a 54-53 DuKane Conference victory in double overtime.
Jensen made six 3-pointers overall and finished with 18 points for Geneva (8-0, 3-0). Nathan Palmer led all scorers with 22 points and hit the winning free throw with seven seconds left.
Joe Reid paced Batavia (2-5, 1-3) with 21 points and sank six 3-pointers of his own. Evan Blankenship and Xavier Justice added nine points apiece.
Hennig is used to developing varsity point guards. The Vikings’ run from Jack McDonald to Nathan Valentine to Mick Lawrence has been continued by the 5-foot-10 Jensen.
“We’ve had a lot of really good ones,” Hennig said, nodding his head. “I put Gabe Jensen up with them — his ability to shoot the ball.
“The thing I love about Gabe is he’s one of the most competitive kids I’ve ever coached. He’s won over 50 games. That’s impressive for a guy his size. I’m just super proud of him.”
Jensen entered the second OT with the same mindset as he had at the start. Batavia erased a seven-point deficit in the fourth quarter to force OT, with each team then making a 3-pointer.
That brought on a second OT, with Jensen coming out and drilling a 3-pointer to set the tone again. The Vikings never trailed from there, although they never pulled away, either.
“When I hit that three, it was a big confidence boost,” Jensen said. “I knew we needed a hot start.”
Keeping that hot streak going all game was a struggle for Jensen, but Dane Farrar had a lot to do with that defensively for the Bulldogs.
“Dane does a lot of good things for us,” Batavia coach Jim Nazos said. “He’s multipositional. He’s arguably our best defender. He’s got a lot of good tools.
“He’s going to end up 6-foot-5 or 6-foot-6 and hasn’t shaved yet a day in his life.”
Nazos told Farrar and the rest of the Bulldogs that they couldn’t take a break around the 3-point line when Jensen and Palmer would get the ball.
“You realize with them, the range they have, you have to honor each and every one,” Nazos said. “The way they shoot it, if you mess up once, he’s going to hit it.”
When Jensen took over, Hennig joked how there better be a player in sixth or seventh grade coming down the line. They now have one in freshman Cody Rader, who impacted Friday’s game.
Jensen tries to help Rader continue the legacy and also lets him gain from his own experiences.
“It feels like every shot he takes, it goes in,” Jensen said of Rader. “He’ll learn as he goes on.”
It’s a tradition Hennig is glad was continued by Jensen, with his successor now on the varsity.
“According to Kevin Honn from Glenbard North, this is Point Guard U,” Hennig said. “He’s not wrong.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.