Kaneland breaks through
Batavia's basketball tradition is expansive, its gymnasium brims with atmosphere. Bulldogs coach Jim Roberts and staff - well, can't do much better than that.
All of which thrilled Kaneland no end - in the last basketball game the teams would play as Western Sun Conference rivals - to show up and ruin Batavia's senior night with a 51-45 victory on Friday.
Kaneland center Dave Dudzinski scored 26 points with 9 rebounds and 4 blocked shots and the Knights' man-to-man defense limited Batavia to 14 of 48 field goal shooting.
"I've never beat Batavia in my high school career," said the 6-foot-9 Dudzinski, a three-year varsity player. "It was a huge win. I'm pretty pumped about it."
Kaneland (16-9, 7-7) beat the Bulldogs last in the 2006-07 season, a streak spanning six straight wins for Batavia (17-8, 9-5).
"They did a good job getting hands in the passing lanes. There were very few second-shot opportunities, which I think is a reflection of their tenacity," Roberts said.
"We had some good shots but they didn't fall - but we didn't do enough other stuff to create other opportunities. And the credit goes to them."
Kaneland scored the first 8 points working the ball between Dudzinski and guard Ryley Bailey, another Knights three-year starter finally besting the Bulldogs.
Kaneland was up 18-11 in the second quarter before Batavia's Jesse Coffey, who finished with a team-high 11 points, led a burst to within 20-17 at halftime.
Shooting just 2 of 11 in the third quarter and outscored 9-5 by Dudzinski alone in that time, Batavia trailed 33-22 after three quarters. Kaneland led 38-24 on a Donavan Williams pull-up jumper with 6:38 left to play.
Sensing the urgency, Batavia crept within 40-32 behind forward Ricky Clopton, who scored 6 of his 10 points over two minutes, and a Lexi Maxey jumper.
"We just talked before the game about having resilience and being able to handle the ups and downs of games," Kaneland coach Brian Johnson said, "and when you struggle not to get down with the adversity but to rise up. Boy, did the kids ever tonight."
They responded with a 10-2 run including a Dudzinski three-point play off a missed Kaneland free throw.
A fast-break bucket by Williams made it 50-34 with 1:58 left to clear the benches. Batavia's Kyle Schroeder, Sam Shump and Mike Clopton assembled a rush that made the final score closer than the game played out.
"It feels great, it's a huge win for us," said Bailey, who held Ricky Clopton 8 points under his 18-point average. Sean Paulick took 2 charges and Taylor Andrews a third protecting the lane from charging Bulldogs.
The good news for Batavia was it got surprised in the regular season finale, not in next week's playoffs.
"As I told the guys," Roberts said, "the saving grace about this is we do get to play again. But it's also a stark reminder of, you come out and not play well, the reality is it's the state tournament."