Feb 2, 2003 By Jim Kriek For The 4 min read

JEFFERSON – Sometimes there’s nothing like a good kick in the pants to wake you up, and then a long review to get you back in the right frame of mind again. Earlier in the week, Carmichaels ambushed Geibel, handing the Gators their first Section 2-A loss and dropping them a notch back of California in the win column. So, it was back to the basics for the Gators over the next two days, and it paid off Friday night with a 90-55 win over host Jefferson-Morgan.

But don’t let that scoring edge fool you. The Rockets went down swinging with a tough first half and carried it into the third period, but then Geibel’s reserve strength started showing and the Gators kept pulling away, or rather running away with their fast-paced offense.

Geibel coach Ken Misiak said, “After Carmichaels beat us, I think it sort of woke us up a little bit. We hit the practice floor for two days and got in a lot of work on our press and half-court trap, and they worked tonight. I think we got more aggressive, plus the fact that J-M was being real aggressive against us, and that tends to make us a little more aggressive. It seems sometimes that staying in a press motivates us more.”

Jefferson-Morgan fell behind at the quarter, 28-12, but then the Rockets started to hit their stride in the second, and at one time got back within eight (40-32) before Geibel gradually started pulling away.

Rocket coach Jim Romanus said, “We played well in spurts, and after we got Geibel into a running game, we could keep up with them. Geibel is a good team with a lot of depth, and we have to play our “A Game” to play with them. There were times when we did that, but we weren’t consistent in it. But, the effort was there.”

Geibel pulled away at the start with two strings of scores. Jordan White opened scoring with the first of his five 3-pointers for Geibel, and the Rockets answered with Matt Ferencak’s two free ones and Vince Kraft’s goal for a 4-3 lead. Geibel answered with a string of 10 on two Zack Leonard goals and two more threes by White for a 13-4 lead.

They seesawed from there until Ferencak’s goal from the side cut the Gators’ edge to 16-10, but then it was string time again. John Bokat went for a layin, Dale Speggen hit from the circle, Zack Voithofer from the side and Kellen Holmes added a goal and two fouls for a 26-10 lead that went to 28-12 at the quarter.

Jefferson-Morgan kept pecking away in the second, and at the four-minute mark was down 38-20. Jason Kuharic got two on the line, and Matt Muscavitch added a layin to make it 38-24. After Leonard laid in another goal for Geibel, the Rockets answered with a layin by Kuharic and another layup that became a three when he was fouled and hit the free throw. Ferencak then made a long three, cutting the Gators’ edge to 40-32.

Travis Welc and Kuharic traded layins before Voithofer’s basket and a Holmes’ free throw put the Gators up 45-34 at the half.

The Rockets got no closer than 11 the rest of the way as Geibel moved to a 66-47 lead in the last three minutes and closed with a 24-8 edge in the fourth.

Leonard led Geibel and game scoring with 21 points, including one three, and White had 17, all but two of them on three-pointers, Holmes and Bokat 12 each and Rob Ramsey 10.

Kuharic led the Rockets with 18 points, and Kraft had 12.

Both teams are on the road Monday, Geibel playing a section game at Mapletown and Jeff-Morgan visiting Beth-Center before hosting West Greene on Tuesday.