Sometimes, people sleep on the athleticism of Geneva’s Hudson Kirby.
So once in a while, the 6-foot-6 senior forward likes to remind everybody about what he can do. He did that Friday night when he flew past a defender and threw down a two-handed slam dunk.
“Coach (Scott) Hennig draws up a ton of plays for me to get open and to get down and drive a gap that’s open,” Kirby said. “I’m just thankful for everything that goes through me in the offense. And then I know we have the shooters that are going to make them.
“You can’t give them an inch of air.”
Kirby found some rarefied air against Batavia, putting together a stellar 31-point effort as the Vikings topped the archrival Bulldogs 68-44 to remain undefeated in the DuKane Conference.
A Wisconsin-Parkside recruit, Kirby also had seven rebounds and three blocked shots for Geneva (22-4, 11-0). Gabe Jensen tallied 14 points and four 3-pointers, including a buzzer-beater at the end of the first quarter. Jax Abalos led Batavia (9-14, 4-7) with 19 points. Xavier Justice added 14.
Hennig, who knows what kind of athlete he has in Kirby, loves setting up plays to feature that athleticism.
“That’s a combination of a sneaky athletic kid who has really good feet and he’s just super skilled,” Hennig said. “It’s just a great kid that works hard. It’s a kid that’s been in our system that’s willing to put in the work, that’s willing to accept the feedback and then just go work on it.”
Kirby’s big jam came right after Abalos, his good buddy and former AAU teammate, filled the lane and slammed home a rebound.
After those highlight-reel plays, however, Kirby got down to business. He scored the final 10 points of the half for Geneva as the Vikings opened up a 36-20 lead.
“He’s very composed on his drives and very balanced,” Batavia coach Jim Nazos said. “He has a nice touch. I mean, he’s strong. He’s a nice player. There are a lot of good players over there.
“Credit to Geneva. Obviously we’re not there yet, but we’re working on it.”
Batavia did cut the deficit down to 12 points in the third quarter on back-to-back 3-pointers from Justice but never got any closer.
“We just never sustained stopping them to get all the way back into it,” Nazos said. “When you get down that much, that quick, you have to be prefect the rest of the way.”
Kirby, meanwhile, had this game circled on the calendar. Geneva had never swept the season series over Batavia in his high school career.
“I feel like everything contributed to it,” Kirby said. “The atmosphere getting ready, I was just ready for this for weeks. And we know what we did last time and we had to do it this time too.
“This is probably as good as it gets.”
Kirby made sure to get downhill to do his damage, something Hennig brought up as a comparison this week in class.
“We were talking about Marcus Domask, who used to play for Illinois,” Hennig said. “That’s how he kind of played, like a bowling ball. It’s his commitment upstairs to the weight room. It’s not like he’s Tommy Diamond, but just a kid we said, ‘Hey, you have to get stronger.’ And he was like, ‘OK.’
“He added 10 to 15 pounds of muscle and it shows — hence why colleges were all over him. It’s not like he’s this Division I power. He’s just a local kid that loves playing basketball and wants to keep getting better.”
The Vikings have been putting together a memorable season, knocking on the door of a DuKane Conference title with three more games to go. And that’s not all for Kirby.
“I think it’s going great so far,” he said. “In every important game, we’ve shown up and we’ve found a way to come out on top in every single one of them.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
