Elgin’s experience sinks Batavia
Give a coach a choice of what to build a team around and you would be hard-pressed to beat a collection of savvy senior starters.
Elgin’s Mike Sitter has four of them, plus a junior who is a three-year varsity player.
Those veterans keep making the plays to win games at crunch time, now with 9 victories in a row after toughing out a 49-43 decision at upset-minded Batavia Thursday night in a game the No. 1 Maroons (13-1, 3-1) trailed at halftime and were tied with five minutes to play.
The last four wins in Elgin’s 9-game streak have been by 6, 4, 6 and now 6 points again.
“It’s having seniors on the court,” Sitter said. “There’s a lot of experience. It’s the same team that was 7-22 as sophomores and they lost all the close games. They would fade at the end. Now it is the opposite. We paid our dues and now we are finishing games much better.”
The Maroons did all the little things well. They made 6 of 8 free throws in the fourth quarter. They turned the ball over just once — and 6 times in the game — compared to Batavia’s 16.
Batavia (4-8, 1-3) trailed 39-35 entering the fourth quarter but tied the game at 39 when Mike Rueffer found Zach Strittmatter for a basket and then Strittmatter got the ball to Cole Gardner for an off-balance bucket.
Elgin responded by finding Gerardo Mojica inside, and the senior scored for a 41-39 lead with 4:59 remaining. The Maroons led the rest of the way, spreading the court and allowing Kory Brown to break down Batavia’s defense for an assist on another Mojica lay-in.
Two other possessions Brown drew fouls. He finished with a game-high 17 points, 5 rebounds and 3 blocked shots.
“He is a threat any time he touches the ball, not necessarily to score,” said Batavia coach Jim Roberts who praised the job Strittmatter did defensively on Brown. “What makes him a great player he does a great job of taking pressure and finding teammates that can hurt you. He’s done that masterfully for the last two years.”
Gardner paced Batavia with 16 points and 7 rebounds and scored off an inbounds play to bring the Bulldogs within 45-43 with 1:30 remaining. But Brown again came through with 2 free throws with 50.6 seconds to go and Batavia never was able to get possession with a chance to tie or go ahead.
“We never got the lead,” Roberts said of the fourth quarter. “Against a team like this when you are down, even though it was down by two, there were a couple flurries when we gave up four shots and they scored. And another possession they got three shots and scored. And that adds up when you chase a team like Elgin.”
Before the game Sitter reminded his team of their first game after the holiday break last season, a surprise loss to Cary-Grove. Batavia looked poised to join Geneva as the only team to hand Elgin a loss this year by leading for good stretches of the first half, including 11-10 after one quarter and 25-23 at halftime. Luke Horton and Rueffer both drew early charges to help spark the Bulldogs.
Arie Williams, who joined Brown in double figures with 10 points, drained a 3 to open the second half and give Elgin the lead, one the Maroons extended to as much as 35-27 on a Mojica jumper.
“Our team needs to take chances,” said Mojica. “I know I haven’t been stepping up on offense so I decided to step up.”
Mojica gave up 3 inches and some beef to Gardner but didn’t back down, finishing with a near double-double with 9 points and 9 rebounds.
“It was pretty tough,” Mojica said. “He was a pretty big body. Coach just tells us to get in front of him. We had to rely on helpside ‘D.’”
Micah Coffey added 8 points for Batavia, who played without starting guard Jake Pollack (high ankle sprain). The Bulldogs face another holiday tournament champion Saturday night at Proviso East, playing there for the first time since 2006.
“We schedule them,” Roberts said. “It will be a great opportunity for our kids to go into a school that has had decades of success with numerous players and numerous coaches.”