Batavia tames Quincy behind Bryant's 22 points
QUINCY - David Bryant realizes there is advantage to the Batavia boys basketball team's annual trip to Quincy High School's Blue Devil Gym.
"It's gets us prepared for playing in other tough atmospheres," said Bryant, the Bulldogs' senior point guard who has made four appearances in the venerable facility. "All these fans come out and watch you."
Bryant and the Bulldogs had them sitting on their hands Saturday night.
After the Blue Devils trimmed a 17-point deficit to 10 late in the third quarter, their work went for naught as Batavia opened the fourth quarter with a 7-0 blitz that led to a 66-46 victory at Blue Devil Gym.
"We battled, but we have to battle harder," Quincy coach Sean Taylor said. "We had a great defensive game, but we didn't finish it off. It's little things we have to get better at. Those little things add up."
Down 28-18 at halftime, Quincy (1-4) scored on three of its first four possessions of the third quarter, but the deficit grew to 40-23 thanks to two possessions on which Batavia grabbed three offensive boards.
The first result was a kick out to Bryant for a 3-pointer from the top of the key. The next ended with Adam LeTourneau's putback with 3 minutes, 30 seconds to go.
Batavia (5-0) finished with 14 offensive boards as it outrebounded Quincy 42-35 with LeTourneau grabbing 9 boards, Bryant 7 and Ben Potter 6.
"When we get that kind of production from our perimeter people, that's going to mean good things for us," Batavia coach Jim Roberts said.
Contributions from the bench help, too.
Jesse Coffey scored all five of his points in the opening minute of the fourth quarter, burying a 3-pointer at the 7-minute mark that put the Bulldogs up 53-34.
"We hit some big shots," said Bryant, who led Batavia with 22 points and 6 assists. "We didn't want to give up the lead since we had it for three quarters. We wanted to finish up strong, and I thought we did that."
Meanwhile, Quincy struggled until the end.
The Blue Devils shot 27.6 percent from the field (16 of 58) and went 0 of 14 from 3-point range. During its four-game skid, Quincy is shooting 13.2 percent from 3-point range (7 of 53).
The struggles weren't limited to beyond the arc. Quincy went 3 of 20 from the field in the second quarter, grabbing 11 offensive rebounds but converting only two putbacks. The Blue Devils hauled down 18 offensive boards with 13 second-chance points.
"Those nights are going to happen offensively, but we have to be tougher and dig in on the defensive end," Taylor said.
Batavia made that difficult. The Bulldogs went 8 of 17 from 3-point range, 12 of 17 from the line and tripled up the Blue Devils on assists (12 to 4).
"I thought we played pretty smart," Roberts said. "We moved the ball, and we moved without the ball."