Batavia rolls over cold-shooting Streamwood

While Batavia's Jesse Coffey was busy hitting 3-pointers from virtually all parts of the basketball court, Streamwood couldn't buy a basket — whether it be outside the arc or inside the paint.

Coffey poured in a game-high 18 points, all coming from beyond the arc, while leading the Bulldogs (8-6, 3-2) to a 56-36 Upstate Eight Conference River Division victory over Streamwood (4-11, 0-3) Friday night in Batavia.

Two of Coffey's long-range jumpers came during the Bulldogs' 14-5 first-quarter surge, which also included a pair of offensive-rebound baskets from 6-5 junior forward Cole Gardner (8 points, 7 rebounds).

“I think a big part of it was that we got the ball inside in the first quarter,” said Coffey, who connected on 6 of 12 three-point attempts. “Once the defense started collapsing, it really opened up the outside.”

Although 6-6 senior center Elliott Vaughn logged just 3-plus minutes of playing time in the first half due to foul trouble, the Bulldogs were able to maintain their 9-point lead at halftime, 21-12.

Part of the reason for that was due to the Sabres' ice-cold shooting. Streamwood shot just 19 percent from the field (5-of-27) during the first 16 minutes.

“Obviously we just didn't shoot the ball very well,” said Sabres coach Tim Jones. “It comes down to us being able to shoot the basketball from the outside because that's what teams do to us at times.

“Defensively, I didn't think we did a bad job. It was 21-12 at halftime. But when we don't shoot well, we've got to have good weak-side rebounding and we've got to buckle down on defense.”

That didn't happen in the second half, as Coffey, Vaughn and sophomore Zach Strittmatter (7 points, 7 rebounds) combined for 27 of the Bulldogs' 35 points after intermission.

Vaughn, who finished with 12 points and 9 rebounds, converted a three-point play early in the third quarter and added 9 fourth-quarter points as he made up for some lost time in the first half.

“I had to go in and do the things I do well — rebound, defense and box out,” said Vaughn. “The offense will come eventually. I probably got 8 points just on offensive rebounds.”

Playing its first game in more than two weeks, Batavia coach Jim Roberts felt his team improved as the game went along.

“I thought that as we moved without the basketball as the game progressed we got better looks,” said Roberts. “We didn't hit them all but we got better looks.

“And we had good play off the bench from guys like Brady Strittmatter, Mike Jorgensen and Noel Gaspari. They all did a good job.”

Junior guard Brandon Larkin-Guilfoyle had a team-high 9 points for the Sabres, who were held to 25 percent field-goal shooting for the game.

“We've got some one-dimensional guys who can shoot the basketball but then you lack something defensively and rebounding,” said Jones, whose team attempted just 1 free throw all night, and that coming in the game's final minute.

“That's what happens when you don't get the ball inside enough,” added Jones.