Glenbard South hands Batavia its 1st loss
Having seen this movie before, Glenbard South made sure it scripted a new ending.
A week after watching Geneva overcome a fourth-quarter deficit to beat them in overtime, the Raiders nearly saw Batavia erase their 22-point lead.
The Bulldogs' Ben Potter got a good look at a 3-pointer from the top of the key, but it bounced off the rim at the buzzer, allowing the Raiders to exhale and celebrate their second straight win at Batavia, 61-58.
"I was so scared it was going to be another Geneva," said Raiders senior Jordan Harks, who led Glenbard South with 16 points and 9 rebounds. "This is going to help us a lot this season knowing we beat Batavia."
Batavia (5-1, 1-1) lost for the first time this season to a Glenbard South team that played a nearly perfect opening 12 minutes.
The Raiders (5-1, 2-1) scored the first 9 points of the game, sinking their first three 3-pointers and scoring at will inside to lead 15-2. Batavia closed to 15-7 after one quarter, then proceeded to turn the ball over 6 times in the first three minutes of the second quarter to fall behind 25-7.
Bulldogs coach Jim Roberts called two timeouts in the first quarter and two more early in the second after Matt Kuzniar's 3-pointer put the Raiders up 34-12.
"It's been a long time since we've been down 23 here at Batavia," said Roberts, whose team might be without starting center Jordan Coffey the rest of the season.
Batavia began chipping away at the lead from there, trailing 38-25 at halftime. The Raiders hit 17 of 28 shots in the first half with 15 assists.
"We've been working a lot at distributing the ball and executing," Raiders coach Wade Hardtke said. "That's about as well as we have executed all year. Hopefully some of the stuff we are working on came through in a big ballgame like tonight."
Harks started the third quarter with a steal and breakaway jam, falling down after his slam. "Kind of embarrassing but still a dunk," Harks said.
Potter and David Bryant brought the Bulldogs back. Potter scored 17 of his game-high 21 points in the first half while the point guard Bryant had a double-double with 19 points and 11 rebounds.
Bryant's 3-point play to start the fourth quarter pulled Batavia within 46-44, the closest it had been since trailing 2-0.
The Raiders never let Batavia tie the score. Kevin Marshall hit a key basket with 2 minutes remaining after the Bulldogs had again pulled within 2. Kuzniar made a pair of free throws with 1:29 left, then Mike Rovansek sank the final point on a free throw with 5.8 seconds remaining.
Rovansek missed his second free throw, and Batavia quickly pushed the ball and got an open shot from Potter.
"I thought our clock management was pretty good down the stretch and it was a good look," Roberts said. "Ben brought us back to life and the rest of the way the kids fought tooth and nail, but it's a situation that we can't dig ourselves this kind of hole.
"They utilized their strength, their quickness, and forced us to do some things further out than we wanted to, forced off to do things off-balance. They did a great job taking us out of what we wanted to do."
Kuzniar and Rolano Shmuate both scored 11 points to join Harks in double figures. The Raiders shot 56 percent from the field while holding the Bulldogs to 34 percent.
"When the kids all work together like that we are pretty tough defensively," Hardtke said.