Batavia blitzes St. Francis early

Had they played a fifth quarter, the outcome might have been different. But the final buzzer intervened, putting an end to a furious fourth-quarter rally by St. Francis.

It couldn't come soon enough for Batavia, which saw its 31-point lead whittled down to 10 before taking hold of a 64-53 victory Friday night in the second round of the Ken Peddy Windmill Classic.

What shaped up as a rout -- and it was that for three quarters -- turned into an offensive explosion for St. Francis (1-1) in the final eight minutes, when the Spartans scored nearly as many points (26) as they had in the first three quarters combined (27).

But it couldn't atone for the Spartans' early difficulties. Batavia (2-0) hit St. Francis with a 15-2 blitz to open the game, and St. Francis' uphill struggle was only beginning.

Unable to penetrate Batavia's 2-3 zone defense -- anchored by the trio of 6-foot-5 Jordan Smith, 6-5 Nick Fruendt and 6-5 Ricky Clopton -- St. Francis lofted wayward jumpers from afar with little success.

It wasn't long before Batavia's Dog Pound was chanting "double digits." When Phil Albrecht (13 points) nailed a 3-pointer early in the second quarter, it put Batavia up 25-9.

Fruendt scored 13 of his game-high 17 points in the first half as the Bulldogs maintained their cushion for a 33-17 halftime lead while St. Francis managed just 7 field goals.

"Against a team the caliber of Batavia, you have to hit some shots early and we just weren't able to," St. Francis coach Shawn Healy said. "We couldn't get anything offensively and weren't hitting the few (open) shots we were getting. You have to perform at a high level when you play on their floor, and we weren't able to do that."

"We made them work very hard, didn't give them many second shots and didn't give up many uncontested shots," Batavia coach Jim Roberts said.

Batavia opened the throttle in the third. While Fruendt was held scoreless, Albrecht and David Bryant (7 points) combined for three straight 3-pointers to push the Bulldogs to their biggest lead at 52-21.

"Until the fourth quarter I think we did a good job with our intensity," Roberts said.

It disappeared in the fourth as Dan McCoy (14 points) and Jeff How (12 points) caught fire, combining for 18 points in the period. St. Francis opened the quarter with a 14-2 run, and though Batavia's lead was never in jeopardy, it caught the Bulldogs' attention as Roberts was forced to reinsert his starters.

"They outscrapped us and made us pay for our lack of execution," Roberts said. "We were willing to trade baskets and, next thing you know, we're chasing."

Smith helped the Bulldogs land the ship, scoring 6 of his 15 points in the final minutes. Batavia's defense also held St. Francis' Brian McMahon in check, limiting him to 12 points after he opened the season with 30 against Aurora Christian.

Aurora Christian 61, Addison Trail 44:ŒJoe Redmond led a hot-shooting Aurora Christian team to victory in the opener at Batavia.

Redmond drained 5 of the team's 9 three-pointers to give the Eagles (1-1) their first win of the season.

Redmond finished with a team-high 23 points. Phil Rutherford followed with 9 points, and 10 different players scored for Aurora Christian.