Bryant's 3-point flurry sinks St. Charles East
At the end of the first quarter Saturday night in St. Charles, Batavia junior David Bryant heaved a three-quarters court shot that bounced harmlessly off the backboard.
Which proved there is a limit to his range.
Bryant didn't miss much else. He scored a game-high 24 points and keyed the Bulldogs' 11-0 run that broke open a tight game in the third quarter, sending visiting Batavia on its way to a 73-57 victory.
Bryant drained five 3-pointers, including three in a span of 2:26 in the third quarter when the Bulldogs turned a 32-30 deficit into a 41-32 lead.
Batavia (19-5) never looked back. Bryant fed Ben Potter for a 3-pointer that beat the third-quarter buzzer for a 51-36 lead, and the Saints never closed within 10 points in the fourth.
It wasn't like St. Charles East (12-13) kept leaving Bryant open. Bryant just stepped back to hit his 3s from even further away.
"I just like to practice from around the 3-point (line) and step out a little in warmups, and if I am feeling it I'll try some from longer," said Bryant, smiling while he explained his range is, "A little beyond NBA, but I usually don't make those."
Bryant had plenty of company putting up big numbers from Nick Fruendt (19 points), Jordan Smith (16) and Phil Albrecht (10).
"We were really balanced again," Fruendt said. "In the first half we didn't keep up our intensity. In the second half I thought we kept up our intensity the whole time."
Bryant was one problem for the Saints, but perhaps just as frustrating was trying to keep their best player on the court.
A night after Collin Pryor scored a career-high 37 points in a double overtime loss to Bartlett, he found himself on the bench for most of the first three quarters in foul trouble. He wound up with 10 points, eight of them in the fourth quarter after Batavia had built a 15-point lead.
Fruendt drew Pryor's first foul in the first minute, and after picking up his second with 2:40 left in the first quarter, Pryor spent most of the rest of the half on the bench.
"Both their big guys (Pryor and Kevin Senechalle), we just wanted to attack them both," Bryant said. "Nick did a good job attacking him early."
The Saints stayed within 29-27 at halftime even without their 20-point per game scorer, thanks to 9 points from Zach Scott and 7 each from Ryan Suits and Senechalle.
But Fruendt and Bryant both drove hard at Pryor to start the third quarter, and the 6-foot-6 senior was whistled for his third foul 11 seconds into the half and his fourth just 31 seconds later.
"For him to get two right away within 30 seconds our team felt that," St. Charles East Brian Clodi said. "Our best player is sitting over there (on the bench), that definitely hurts."
Scott drained four 3-pointers to lead the Saints with 20 points. A night after hitting 19 of 21 free throws against Bartlett, the Saints made just 8 of 17.
Batavia, meanwhile, hit 20 of its 24 free throws and also shot nearly 50 percent from the field at 23 of 48.
"I'm proud of our kids, I thought they fought and kept their composure," Clodi said.
"They (Batavia) are a great, great team, no doubt about it. You've got to give Bryant credit. He knocked down some tough shots."
Senechalle added 13 points and 14 rebounds for the Saints.
Batavia used a team effort of Bryant's 7 rebounds and 6 each from Fruendt and Smith to stay even with the taller Saints on the boards. Batavia also blocked 6 shots, 3 by Ricky Clopton.
"We had to fight tooth and nail to keep them off the glass," Batavia coach Jim Roberts said. "They are relentless. It was just a hard-fought win."
Laura Stoecker/lstoecker@dailyherald.com
Batavia's Ricky Clopton swipes a rebound from the while battling St. Charles East's Kevin Senechalle.