ROCHELLE — Johnny Beck was fired up to play against Geneseo standout Isaiah Rivera when the Hubs varsity basketball team hosted the Maple Leafs for its Senior Night contest and regular season finale on Saturday.

Beck and the Hubs were eager to bounce back from a tough loss at Sterling on Friday, when the Golden Warriors celebrated their Senior Night with a 78-56 victory over Rochelle. Rivera proved difficult for the Hubs to handle, scoring a game-high 31 points and accounting for over 50 percent of Geneseo’s scoring.

But Beck was equally disruptive against the Maple Leafs, scoring a team-high 28 points and leading Rochelle over Geneseo by a final score of 65-56. The win bumps Rochelle’s record up to 16-10 overall and the fourth-seeded Hubs will face either Dixon or Stillman Valley in the IHSA Class 3A Regional Semifinals at Stillman Valley High School.

“Playing against Rivera and hearing about all the schools that have offered him made me be much more aggressive,” said Beck, who also totaled four steals on Saturday. “I had an aggressive mindset tonight… It was a back-and-forth friendly match between us. It’s awesome to get a win on Senior Night because we can go into regionals with that mentality.”

The Hubs honored six seniors prior to Saturday’s game including Angel Aguirre, Blake Albers, Komla Gati, Noah Griffith, Riley Lodico and Noah Mershon. Rochelle head coach Tim Thompson was confident his players would rebound from a tough loss against Sterling, and Thompson’s confidence was reassured with a win over the Maple Leafs on Saturday.

“It’s not easy to play the back end of a doubleheader but the kids fought,” Thompson said. “I felt like Geneseo played us really tough and Rivera was a load for us to handle… I told the kids in the locker room that it wasn’t going to be the same game as our first matchup. We found a way to get through the game and win.”

Rochelle torched Geneseo 69-48 on the road earlier this season, but the Maple Leafs hung around as they sought out revenge against the Hubs. Griffith scored five of his 14 points in the first quarter to help spark the Rochelle offense, while Rivera led the Leafs with 10 first-half points. Rochelle led Geneseo 18-16 after the first quarter before jumping ahead 34-27 at halftime.

“Rivera is a Division I talent,” Thompson said. “Their other players are good enough to where we can’t just focus on Rivera the entire time. He’s so smooth with the ball and he finishes well at the rim. He’s starting to make more shots, and he’s going to be a terror in this conference over the next two years.”

The second half was less about Rochelle versus Geneseo than it was about Beck against Rivera. The two players traded buckets for most of the third quarter, even finding themselves matched up against each other on defense. A dunk attempt by Rivera brought the crowd to its feet, and although Beck’s block on Rivera was called a foul, the play set the tone for Saturday’s battle between top scorers.

“We challenged Johnny before the game that he had to get more inside touches to get some easy buckets,” Thompson said. “He was consistent in trying to get there, and our guys made it a point to get Johnny the ball when Rivera was playing behind him. I thought Johnny made some solid moves, and I gave him a ton of credit for going down there.”

Geneseo cut Rochelle’s lead to four points (45-41) after the third quarter, but the Maple Leafs weren’t able to make up the gap throughout the fourth quarter despite 11 points from Rivera and a few baskets by guard Jarron Nordstrom, who finished with 16 points for Geneseo. Late 3-pointers by Aguirre and Griffith helped seal the Rochelle victory.

With regionals around the corner, Thompson said that rebounding will be critical if the Hubs hope to bring home the championship. Rochelle outrebounded Geneseo 28-19 on Saturday after being down 54-33 in rebounds to Sterling.

“Rebounding has been our Achilles’ heel throughout the season,” Thompson said. “I think we stay in front of guys really well and we challenge shots, but we don’t box out well. Rebounding will be the key to whether or not we can win games in the regional.”

Lodico and Aguirre each led Rochelle with three assists on Saturday, while Griffith recorded two blocks and both Beck and Albers finished with three rebounds.