Batavia comes back, beats St. Charles East
Halfway home and Batavia is right where it wants to be, the surprise leader of the Upstate Eight Conference River Division race.
The Bulldogs got there Thursday by beating St. Charles East 60-54, using near perfect free-throw shooting and double-digit scoring from Canaan Coffey (18 points), Kamontez Thomas (13) and Colin Cheaney (13).
"It means a lot," said Cheaney, who drained 3 of the team's six 3-pointers. "Right now we have a lot of momentum. We worked hard all summer and we work hard in practice and I don't think anyone should be surprised we're here. We work our butt off and it's paying off now."
Batavia (10-6, 6-0) made 20 of 21 free throws, sinking its first 19. St. Charles East (8-8, 3-2) was tied at 37-37 going to the fourth quarter but after shooting 55.5 percent through 3 quarters made just 7 of 18 attempts in the deciding 8 minutes.
Eric Peterson, called up from the sophomore team after Carter Eberhardt injured his ankle, made his varsity debut for Batavia and provided a big spark with 6 second-half points.
That's the kind of season it has been for the Bulldogs, with players knowing their roles like defensive stalwarts Michael Fee and Brett Bowman, and John Fitch (8 points, 6 rebounds) providing an inside/outside threat.
"We have a group that believes in each other," Batavia coach Jim Nazos said. "They respect everybody but don't really fear anybody. Fearless, share the ball, fight hard."
As they have done for much of the season, the Bulldogs played from behind. Justin Hardy, who finished with a double-double for the Saints with 17 points and 11 rebounds, scored 7 in the opening quarter for an 11-8 lead.
St. Charles East extended to 27-20 late in the second quarter before a Thomas triple and Cheaney's baseline drive just before the buzzer brought Batavia within 27-25 at the break.
"A lot of our games have been exactly like this one here," Nazos said. "They just stay with it and as the game gets further and further along we seem to get a little better on the offensive and defensive ends."
A steal and layup from Peterson gave Batavia its first lead of the game, 33-31. Peterson also closed the quarter with 2 free throws to knot the game at 37, one of 11 ties or lead changes.
Hardy's putback basket gave the Saints their final lead at 39-37. Fitch's spin move down low drew Batavia even, and a conventional 3-point play from Thomas put Batavia ahead to stay, 42-39.
Three times the Saints cut the lead to 2, and each time Batavia answered at the line - first with 2 Peterson free throws, then a pair from Coffey and finally 2 by Cheaney to make it 51-47 with 2:04 left.
"He (Peterson) gave us a boost," Nazos said. "He did well. He's very capable of being here. I think you'll be asking me about him a lot the next couple years."
The Bulldogs sealed the game by sinking 10 of 11 free throws in the final 2 minutes.
"We are capable of it," Nazos said. "We needed every single one of them."
Evan DiLeonardi, who had his hands full on the defensive end chasing Coffey, added 12 points and 5 assists for the Saints, and Zachary Mitchell scored 11.
"We missed a couple easy bunnies at one point in the fourth quarter that really hurt," Saints coach Patrick Woods said. "Some mental mistakes cost us. There's a lot of season left. We're not hitting the panic button yet, but we need to get something rolling."