Batavia buries Rochelle for Roberts' 401st win
With 400 wins in the books, coach Jim Roberts and his Batavia Bulldogs got started on the next 400 Friday night.
Roberts picked up win No. 401 as his team picked apart Rochelle's defense. The Bulldogs shot 65 percent from the field in an 83-59 victory Friday night in Batavia.
The win runs Batavia to 4-0 this year, 1-0 in the Western Sun, and puts Roberts at 401-221 in his career.
Not surprisingly, Roberts downplayed the accomplishment, passing credit to everyone but himself.
"There's probably a lot of losses to go with it," Roberts smiled.
"It's a reflection of a lot of guys, a lot of players that have come through that have done a nice job for us here. Reflection of their hard work. Assistant coaches Ed Cange and P.J. White have been with us from the start, Anthony Williams, all those guys have been a big part of it."
Rochelle fell to 2-4 and 0-2 in the Western Sun with losses this week to Geneva and Batavia. Their schedule gave coach Russ Zick a chance for an early breakdown of the Western Sun race.
"I'd say Glenbard South and Kaneland are every bit as good as these two teams," Zick said. "If I had to say, no disrespect to Geneva, but Batavia has probably got them by a little bit right now, but it could change."
Batavia will beat a lot of teams shooting the ball like it did Friday. The Bulldogs hit 9 of 13 from the field in the first quarter and 9 of 12 in the second to take commanding leads of 20-12 after one and 48-26 at halftime.
The Bulldogs had assists on 8 of their 9 first-quarter baskets.
"The way the guys moved the ball and the way the guys moved without the ball created some great looks and the kids knocked them down," Roberts said.
All the Bulldogs got in the act. Ben Potter led with 21 points and 7 rebounds, and David Bryant scored 15 points to go with 5 rebounds and 5 assists.
Ricky Clopton (11 points), Adam LeTourneau (10) and Jordan Coffey (9 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists) rounded out the starters, and Jesse Coffey and Levi Maxey added 7 and 6 points, respectively, off the bench.
"Everything was feeling good," Potter said. "When you get the ball moving around the perimeter, everything seems to work well for us."
Batavia built its lead to as many as 26 points in the third quarter. Rochelle made a mini-run to pull within 16 early in the fourth quarter.
The Bulldogs closed the game strong, with two baskets by Chris Roeske pushing them over the 80-point mark.
Batavia will try to stay unbeaten tonight when it makes its annual trip to play at Quincy.
"They did get a lot of open shots and our defense is pretty poor right now but the credit goes to Batavia," Zick said. "They move the ball around. We're just figuring things out."