Batavia’s big 2nd half, and big guys, too much for Saints

It wasn’t that long ago three seasons when St. Charles East enjoyed a huge size advantage inside with Collin Pryor and Kevin Senechalle.

Friday night the Saints got a taste of what it’s like to be on the small side of the matchup against Batavia’s twin towers Elliott Vaughn and Cole Gardner. Like that former Saints duo, they both stand at least 6-feet-5 and were way too much for St. Charles East to handle.

Gardner scored 16 points, grabbed 14 rebounds and blocked 2 shots while Vaughn chipped in 9 points, 16 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals. After struggling mightily in their past couple second halves, the Bulldogs outscored the Saints 34-20 in the second half Friday to win 63-54.

“We definitely controlled the boards,” said Gardner, who put up his big numbers despite fouling out for the fourth time in five games.

“We knew we were coming in with the size advantage but they have some athletes. We knew we had to get bodies on them.”

Batavia (2-3, 1-1) bounced back from Thursday’s loss to St. Charles North while St. Charles East 0-5, 0-1) lost its second straight game after holding an 11-point first-half lead.

Saints coach Brian Clodi started four guards which left the 6-foot Dan Ditusa trying to box out Gardner and Vaughn. The Saints actually outrebounded the Bulldogs 10-7 in the opening quarter, but after that it was all Batavia who won the rebounding battle 39-16 over the final three quarters for a 46-26 advantage.

“We knew we couldn’t win the rebounding war but we didn’t want to get doubled up,” Clodi said.

While Gardner and Vaughn were dominating inside, Batavia senior guard Jesse Coffey got hot from the 3-point arc. He made six 3-pointers as part of a game-high 22-point night.

Two of Coffey’s 3s came on the Bulldogs’ first two third-quarter possessions to turn a 34-29 halftime deficit into a 35-34 lead.

“Just one of those games where if feels like everything you shoot is going to go in,” Coffey said. “When the first shot goes in it’s going to be a good night.”

Coffey did hit his first 3 to tie the game 5-5. Coffey and Vaughn were the only Batavia players to make a shot in the first quarter the rest of the team was 0-6.

Johnny Hondlik scored 7 of his team-high 13 points in the first quarter to put his team up 15-13, then the Saints extended their lead to as much as 34-23 in the second quarter behind Spencer Motley (11 points, 5 steals) and reserve Mike Woods (7 first-half points).

The Bulldogs closed the first half with 3-pointers by Coffey and Noel Gaspari. It was the second 3 for Gaspari and came on a possession the Bulldogs seemed out of sync. The Bulldog student section started a “5-4-3-2-1” countdown and Gaspari alertly let the shot fly just before the buzzer.

“I told Noel if we don’t get what he gave us at the end of the half, we’re down 10 points (actually 8),” Batavia coach Jim Roberts said.

“Noel’s 3 was huge just to swing the momentum back to our side,” Coffey said. “We were able to knock down some big shots.”

Batavia dominated the third quarter 19-6. When Gardner scored inside on Vaughn’s pass, it put the Bulldogs ahead 46-37 and capped a 23-3 Batavia run.

“A good second half was big for us especially coming off our last two games we didn’t compete that well in the second half,” Coffey said. “Tonight was a big step forward for us.”

Trailing 57-46 with five minutes to go, the Saints scored six straight points on Charlie Fisher’s steal and layup and four free throws. That brought the Saints within 57-52 with 1:46 left, but Batavia sophomore point guard Mike Rueffer knocked down 5 of 6 free throws to seal the win.

Rueffer scored 10 points for the second straight game and added 4 assists and 4 rebounds.

The Bulldogs will leave at 9 a.m. Saturday for their annual trip to Quincy, a scheduling quirk that gives them their third game in three days.

“First time doing this in awhile,” Coffey said. “Go home tonight and get some rest and come back tomorrow.”

Batavia held St. Charles East sophomore Kendall Stephens to 9 points. The Saints will try to get their first win Saturday night when they host Elgin.

“We didn’t want to let Coffey get off. we didn’t want him to get his looks,” Clodi said. “Not one of our players had their ‘A’ game and when we get two or three going on at the same time we can be really, really good.”