Roswald lifts St. Francis by Batavia

Friday night's basketball game had a little extra meaning for St. Francis senior Zach Roswald.

Roswald, a 6-7 forward who lives in Batavia, scored a game-high 19 points to help lift the Spartans (2-0) to a 56-44 victory over the host Bulldogs (1-1) in the second round of the 36th annual Ken Peddy Windmill City Classic.

"It was a big rivalry game for me," said Roswald, who scored 11 of his points in the second half as St. Francis outscored Batavia 35-25. "It's like my homecourt. It was a super special night."

With St. Francis clinging to a 1-point lead midway through the third quarter it was Roswald who provided a momentum boost of sorts. He converted a layup off a Bulldog turnover and turned an excellent give-and-go pass from teammate Nick Donati into a three-point play, as the Spartans extended their lead to 33-27.

A steal and layup by Brian Spahn (10 points) pushed the Spartans' lead to 46-35 with 4:18 left before the Bulldogs made one last charge.

Jake Pollack's 3-pointer and Luke Horton's inside bucket trimmed the deficit to 46-40 with 3:32 remaining.

But Roswald's layup on the Spartans' next possession upped the lead back to 8, and 6-6 senior Ryan Coyle (15 points, 10 rebounds) added 5 of the next 8 points to help hold off the Bulldogs.

"We made progress from our first game, especially defensively," said St. Francis coach Bob Ward. "For early in the year, I thought we did a lot of things that we harp on in practice. All those kids really got after them. I don't think they had any easy possessions."

Senior center Cole Gardner, who only had a couple of practice sessions with the basketball team this week after playing a vital role for the state semifinalist football squad this season, scored 15 points and added 11 rebounds for the Bulldogs.

"Gardner is a full-grown man," said Ward. "We probably had four guys guard him at one point. At the end, we just simply put two (players) on him and tried to scramble against the open man."

Roswald enjoyed the showdown with Gardner.

"He's a big boy," said Roswald. "I love going up against him. It's a real challenge for me."

St. Francis forced Batavia into 24 turnovers 15 of them coming in the first half.

"One of our goals was to establish ball pressure on them," said Ward. "I thought (Nick) Donati was a real spearhead on that. He had charges, he had steals everything started with him.

"They're a very difficult team to guard because they've got perimeter kids who are skilled and they've got kids who can shoot the ball."

Pollack added 13 points for the Bulldogs, who take on Kaneland tonight. "I think they beat us to loose balls, we lost people in transition, and we didn't shoot too well from the free-throw line (8-of-17)," said Batavia coach Jim Roberts. "I think all those things added to our problems."

In Friday's other tournament game, Kaneland (1-1) closed out the third quarter on a 9-0 run and never looked back during its 53-43 victory over Crystal Lake South (0-2).

Trever Heinle, who poured in a game-high 27 points with 9 rebounds and 4 steals, fueled the third-quarter surge with a layup and three-point play. Marcel Neil (11 points) and Dan Miller (7 points, 10 rebounds) supported the cause for the Knights.

"I think we took care of the ball a little better in the second half than we did in the first half," said Knights coach Brian Johnson. "We were able to at least manage their 1-3-1 pressure."

Kaneland also won the rebounding battle, 43-29. "We don't have any 6-5, 6-6 guys so we really try to stress hitting the glass on every shot," said Johnson.