King spoils Batavia's season opener
A year ago in its season opener against King, Adam LeTourneau banked in a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give Batavia a thrilling and improbable 49-46 victory.
The teams and low-scoring pace returned Wednesday for the 2010 opener at the 35th annual Ken Peddy Windmill City Classic, only this time there were no last-second heroics to be found.
Down 5 points with 56 seconds left, Batavia nearly capitalized on King's 4-of-9 free throw shooting only to see Mike Jorgensen's 3-pointer rim out with 4 seconds to go. King added a pair of free throws to win 45-41.
“I think we were a little hesitant,” Batavia coach Jim Roberts said. “Especially early. As the game progressed we got a little better. Early we were tentative with our passes, tentative with our shots, tentative going to the glass.”
The Bulldogs (0-1) struggled all night putting points on the scoreboard. They trailed 21-18 at halftime and 27-26 after three quarters against King's 32 minutes of full-court pressure.
“I think our pressure wore them down,” first-year King coach Culumber Ball said. “Sometimes they got it across but they were scattered.”
Justin Reynolds' 3-pointer at the first-quarter buzzer gave King a 14-11 lead. Then the offensive woes really hit both teams as they combined to make just 3 of 22 field goal attempts in the second quarter.
King took its biggest lead at 21-13 midway through the second quarter, then didn't score another point for over eight minutes. Batavia finally caught them at 23-21 on Jesse Coffey's 3-pointer with 4:19 left in the third quarter.
Elliott Vaughn's 2 free throws with 6:45 remaining gave the Bulldogs their final lead of the night, 30-29. King built a 5-point lead four different times, the final one 42-37 with 56 seconds left.
Two free throws by Zach Strittmatter and a strong inside basket by Cole Gardner brought the Bulldogs within 42-41. After King split free throws with 19 seconds left, Batavia got the ball into Vaughn who passed out to Jorgensen for the 3-point attempt that didn't quite drop.
The Bulldogs shot just 24 percent from the field (12 of 50) and turned the ball over 17 times, staying in the game with 13-of-17 free-throw shooting.
“They (King) did a good job getting in the passing lanes and playing very aggressively,” Roberts said. “We need to get there (the free-throw line) a little more, attack a little more. We have to learn and grow from it.”
Batavia returns two starters, Vaughn and Coffey plus another regular Gardner, and the trio combined for 35 of Batavia's 41 points.
One of the two new sophomore starters, point guard Mike Rueffer, had to leave the game with 3:32 remaining after he hit his head hard on the floor going for a loose ball.
Vaughn and Gardner both posted double-doubles. Vaughn led with 13 points and 14 rebounds while Gardner shook off foul trouble to score 12 points and grab 13 rebounds.
Vaughn said they could have done even more.
“I don't think we stayed fundamentally sound,” Vaughn said. “We should have boxed out more. First-game jitters but to their credit they won the game. I'm not making any excuses.
“We have a couple sophomores up, a couple new guys coming in, but again that's not an excuse. Once we start knowing each other a little bit, who is cutting where and stuff like that, I think we'll be a little bit better.”
Reynolds was the only King player in double figures with 10 points.
“We work hard but other times we don't play smart and put two and two together,” Ball said. “They are still getting to know me a little bit and my zero tolerance level.”
The Bulldogs will try to even their record Friday when they play St. Francis, a 62-51 winner on Wednesday over Crystal Lake South.
“I was proud of the way we hung in there,” Roberts said. “That last stretch where we took the ball straight into the basket and Cole had a nice strong move to the glass, that's what we have to do from the start.”