St. Charles North catches Batavia
History repeated itself Thursday night at St. Charles North even though the North Stars and Batavia were playing for the first time as Upstate Eight Conference rivals.
In its last game, Batavia built a big first-half lead, then went scoreless in the fourth quarter of a loss to Crystal Lake South.
In its last game, St. Charles North spotted St. Charles East an 11-point first half lead, then roared back in the second half for the win.
So even though Batavia outplayed St. Charles North in the first 16 minutes to grab an 8-point halftime lead, the North Stars knew just what to do.
St. Charles North shared touches on offense, pushed the ball in transition and got Batavia into foul trouble to pull away for a 62-54 victory.
The North Stars (2-3, 1-0) outscored the Bulldogs (1-3, 0-1) 45-28 in the second half. They finished 21 of 30 at the free-throw line to Batavia’s 1 of 6.
“Go down the lane and throw something up gets you 17 points. In the second half sharing the basketball, making the extra pass, being organized on the offensive end gets you 45, and puts them in situations where they have to foul,” North Stars coach Tom Poulin said.
The North Stars hit 17 of 22 at the line in the fourth quarter, led by Quinten Payne’s 8-for-8 effort. The sophomore’s 2 free throws with 5;49 remaining gave the North Stars a 43-41 lead they never relinquished.
“The first half we didn’t play defense as well as we should have but the second half we turned it around,” Payne said. “Coach gave us a good halftime speech and we all buckled down and got it done.”
The foul trouble started early for Batavia. Cole Gardner missed the final 4:18 of the first quarter and all the second with 2 fouls, yet the Bulldogs turned a 3-3 game at the time into a 26-17 halftime lead. Elliott Vaughn and Jesse Coffey combined for 19 of Batavia’s 26 first-half points.
Batavia still led 34-26 on Vaughn’s putback basket midway through the third quarter. Josh Mikes scored twice inside to trim the lead to 4.
St. Charles North reserves Jason Weinzirl and Alec Eickert also had baskets late in the quarter to tie the game at 36 heading to the fourth.
“We transitioned well,” Payne said. “That’s what we have been working on all year and it finally came out in our play. We were getting easy looks.
“That’s what we’ve been trying to do since the (St. Charles) East tournament but we couldn’t get in that flow because of the teams we were playing. This was a good game to finally get in that flow.”
Vaughn put Batavia back on top to start the fourth quarter with a thunderous one-handed slam off a feed from Coffey on a fastbreak. That came much to the delight of the Bulldogs’ half of a much larger than usual crowd for a Thursday night.
Weinzirl answered with a 3-pointer for a 39-38 St. Charles North lead, its first since 7-5.
Coffey’s 3 put the Bulldogs back on top for the final time, 41-39, before Payne hit four straight free throws. Two more free throws by Tony Neari and a Payne basket on Chris Conrad’s assist made it 47-41.
Gardner and Brady Strittmatter both fouled out in the fourth quarter while Mikes managed to finish the game with 4 fouls.
“There were some fouls called that put them at the line. To their credit they made them,” said Batavia coach Jim Roberts, adding he didn’t think his team was too aggressive. “Our kids were playing hard.”
The North Stars led by at least 3 points the rest of the way and Batavia never had the ball and a chance to tie. The North Stars pushed their lead to 58-49 before Vaughn’s stickback and a Mike Rueffer 3-pointer brought Batavia within 58-54 in the final minute.
St. Charles North threw long on its next possession that led to a Mikes layup. Kyle Nelson’s free throws ended the scoring.
Payne also led the North Stars with 9 rebounds, though it was Batavia that controlled the boards, 38-26. Nelson (15 points) and Mikes (10) also scored in double figures.
“We’ll put it in the correct column and move on,” Poulin said. “It’s not going to be easy every night. I told the guys I think we are going to get everybody’s best shot.
“That is typical Batavia. They are well coached, they are physical, they play hard and they play smart. We have nothing but respect for coach Roberts and what he does in that program. We weren’t expecting any type of pushover.”
Despite the loss and losing another halftime lead, Batavia played better than at the Ken Peddy Classic. Roberts pointed to the defensive end and rebounding as two improvements while their guards also stepped up. Coffey led all scorers with 17 points and the sophomore Rueffer added 10 points, 3 steals and 6 rebounds. Vaughn had another double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds plus 3 assists.
“I thought our effort was very good,” Roberts said. “Execution at times hopefully continues to get better. Our intensity is headed in the right direction.”