ROCHELLE — Blake Albers marched down the court and pointed to the Rochelle Township High School student section after drawing an offensive foul during the Hubs varsity basketball team’s nonconference game against the Genoa-Kingston Cogs on Tuesday.

Albers missed Rochelle’s first four games at the Sycamore Strombom Tournament due to an elbow injury, but the 6-foot-6-inch senior forward gave the Hubs a big boost on defense, and the purple and white shut down Genoa-Kingston in a 55-44 win over the Cogs. Albers also chipped in three points for the Hubs, who improve to 2-3 overall with the victory.

“These guys are everything,” Albers said. “We work hard in practice and getting a win is a great feeling. I really want to assert myself as a physical player right now and I want to force the other team to use two guys in order to box me out. I want to get every rebound in order to give my teammates another opportunity to shoot.”

Offensive struggles hurt the Hubs at the Strombom Tournament this past week, and Rochelle endured another slow start on Tuesday. Genoa-Kingston led 10-9 after the first quarter before taking an 18-16 lead at halftime behind Nathan Nesler and Griffin Hansen, who combined for 24 points in the game.

But the Hubs quickly turned their fortunes around in the third quarter, with junior Johnny Beck helping ignite the Rochelle offense with eight points in the period. Beck added seven points in the fourth quarter to finish the win with a team-high 22 points. Rochelle surged past the Cogs in the third quarter and took a 37-28 lead.

“We came out with more energy,” Beck said. “We talked with our coaches at halftime about coming out with energy and playing stronger defense. It felt great to get the win, especially in front of all the home fans who had to watch us over at Sycamore. We definitely bounced back and made them more confident in our team.”

Genoa-Kingston pulled within four points early in the fourth quarter, but Rochelle’s half-court defense drew plenty of loose balls away from the Cogs, and the RTHS transition offense immediately took advantage. Late buckets by Albers and senior Noah Griffith helped Rochelle force a Genoa-Kingston timeout up 51-38.

“We wore them down in the first half with our press,” head coach Tim Thompson said. “Things opened up for Johnny and Blake a little bit more, and I think Genoa-Kingston became more fatigued… We were getting out of possessions and we got some easy run-outs. When you get easy run-outs, it just makes basketball easier to play.”

Seniors Angel Aguirre and Riley Lodico teamed up for 17 Rochelle points, while seniors Griffith and Noah Mershon combined for 10 points. Sophomore Seth Gould added a 2-point basket for the Hubs, who will host Ottawa on Friday.