advertisement

Batavia blows out Kaneland

Numbers don't lie.

Batavia (1-1) scored 28 unanswered points to build an insurmountable 36-4 lead over Kaneland (2-1) with 2 minutes remaining in the first half during Wednesday night's Ken Peddy Windmill City Classic Basketball Tournament in Batavia.

Thanks to their 26-4 second-quarter surge, the Bulldogs grabbed a 39-8 halftime advantage and cruised to a 67-29 victory.

"I thought we did a lot of things right in the first half both offensively and defensively," said Batavia coach Jim Nazos. "It was one of those nights where things just snowballed."

How tough was it for Kaneland?

The Knights' first basket - a putback by junior Blake Feiza - came with just 1:08 left in the opening half.

Kaneland made 1 of its 15 first-half shots, including 0 for 8 from 3-point range. Six of their 8 first-half points came on free throws.

By halftime, Batavia had a pair of players - junior Eric Peterson and freshman reserve Jayden Johnson - each outscore the entire Kaneland team, 9-8.

"It was just one of those nights where we didn't make shots and we compounded the problem with a lack of rebounding," said Knights coach Joe Conroy. "It felt like they had 40 offensive rebounds. There were times where they were getting four shots at the basket.

"We got shots in the first half but we didn't make shots. We didn't finish at the cup when we got fouled. We weren't able to hit open jump shots."

Peterson, who scored a game-high 15 points with 8 rebounds, added 6 third-quarter points as the Bulldogs extended their cushion to 56-16.

"Coming back from Wheaton Warrenville South (loss) the other night, our focus was defense, closing out and ball pressure," said Peterson. "I thought we did that really well tonight.

"We had a film session Tuesday and we were pretty critical of ourselves."

"Eric (Peterson) is very quiet about what he does but he does it right and he does it hard," said Nazos.

Johnson added 12 points on 4 of 4 shooting from beyond the arc, while J.T. Dietz and Riley Cooper scored 7 points apiece.

Thirteen of the Bulldogs' 19 players who saw court time got their names into the scoring column.

"Those things happen," Nazos said of his team's 38-point triumph. "Kaneland is a good team. They played well the first two games."

Kyle Stuart and Matt Olson paced the Knights with 6 points each.

"They rolled over the top of us," said Conroy. "They steamrolled us."

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.