Batavia's shooting topples Raiders

Contrary to public opinion, it only seemed like Batavia made all of its shots Friday night at Glenbard South.

Still, 50 percent was good enough for the Bulldogs to grab a 71-57 victory from the Western Sun Conference leader in Glen Ellyn.

"It seemed like they shot lights out all night long," said coach Wade Hardtke, whose Raiders shot 38 percent.

The Bulldogs did most of their damage with the long ball, shooting 47 percent from 3-point range. Ben Potter made four 3-pointers and finished with 24 points. David Bryant hit 3 and totaled 19 points.

"Ben, David, Adam (LeTourneau), when their feet are set, they shoot a good ball," Batavia coach Jimmy Roberts said. "And even a couple of times, leaners and things like that, guys hit some player shots."

"Potter was shooting lights out," said Raiders senior Jordan Harks. "We had a hand in his face and he was still hitting his shot. We couldn't do anything about it. He's a good player. They deserve it. They played hard. We played hard too, but they came out on top."

Batavia jumped out to a 10-2 lead when Potter and Bryant hit from deep before the Raiders fought back to within a point. Batavia again built a lead in the second quarter, this time reaching 10 points, only to see the Raiders go on a 13-0 run. This time it was Batavia's turn to battle back, and the Bulldogs did that, going into halftime tied at 36.

Harks scored 18 of his game-high 29 points in the first half, but his shooting percentage fell when Batavia went to a 2-3 zone because of foul trouble.

"We started out man, and then they got three of our guys in foul trouble, so we switched to the 2-3 at the end of the first half and that kind of worked, so we stayed with that all second half," Bryant said. "We kind of just gave help on (Harks) when he flashed into the lane."

"I thought our kids fought him tooth and nail. I don't think (Harks) had too many uncontested shots," Roberts added.

The Raiders contested Potter's off-balance 3-point attempt to beat the third-quarter buzzer, but the shot went in to give the Bulldogs a 51-47 lead. By that time the Raiders were out of comebacks. They shot just 25 percent in the final period and committed some key turnovers.

"Wade's teams aren't going to quit," Roberts said. "They've got too much character and they're too well-coached not to continue digging us."

The victory brings Batavia (13-6, 7-3) within a game and a half of the Raiders (14-5, 9-2).

"We're kind of just worrying about our team and getting wins," Bryant said.

Geneva is a game back at 8-3 after knocking DeKalb out of second place Friday. The Raiders go to DeKalb (12-8, 7-3) next Friday.