St. Charles East ends 4-game skid
St. Charles East star Kendall Stephens called his team's 4-game losing streak "embarrassing."
The Saints had nothing to be embarrassed about Tuesday, taking out the frustrations of that skid on Batavia with a pair of knockout blows.
A 23-0 run in the first quarter helped St. Charles East break the game open. After Batavia battled within 11 in the third quarter, the Saints again hit hard with 16 unanswered points for what turned into a one-sided 69-40 victory.
"Huge," said Stephens, the Purdue-bound junior who led three Saints in double figures with 18 points. "We needed it a lot to get on a roll. We just need to learn from our mistakes. It was somewhat embarrassing to lose four like that. We have to take this over to the next one."
The Saints' losing streak coincided with Stephens suffering a high ankle sprain at the Glenbard West Christmas Tournament and not being at 100 percent since.
He scored 16 of his points in the first half Tuesday including a stretch of 3 straight 3-pointers to open the second quarter.
"It's (injuries) a part of the game, you can't get down," said Stephens who compared the injury to one during the summer that sidelined him for a few weeks. "You just have to go to work the next day and not feel bad for yourself.
"I didn't take any time off, kept making it worse. It's still hurting. I always want to be there to help my team."
Batavia (4-12, 1-6) led early, starting on Jake Pollack's drive to open the game and at 7-2 a few moments later on Cole Gardner's 3-point play.
A 3-pointer from Johnny Hondlik was the first of 23 straight points for the Saints, a surge fueled by one Batavia turnover after another against the Saints' full-court press. Batavia had 10 turnovers in the opening quarter.
"We were very active on the ball, thought we were in passing lanes better and rotated in new guys," said coach Patrick Woods who added Mike Woods is away from the team on a "leave of abscence" for a few days.
"I felt like we were back to our old ways which was nice because we haven't played with that intensity and energy for a number of games now. It was good to see. They finally stepped up and played with the energy they should have and hopefully that will continue the rest of the way."
Charlie Fisher (9 points, 4 steals), Dom Adduci (11 points), Stephens and Luke Ludke all scored in transition as St. Charles East (9-8, 4-3) capitalized on Batavia missing point guard Mike Rueffer (hairline fracture of his elbow). Batavia coach Jim Roberts said Rueffer will be re-evaluated Thursday.
"Injuries are part of it," Roberts said. "We have to get better with the basketball with or without Mike.
"We did not break the press consistently at all. We rushed things. They played the passing lanes. They kept attacking and attacking. It feeds on itself. We did not make a stand. To their (St. Charles East's) credit they kept coming with it."
The Saints led 43-25 at halftime. Batavia played its best stretch of basketball in the third quarter eventually getting as close as 48-37 when Pollack's 3-pointer followed inside baskets from Taylor Knox and Gardner.
The Saints quickly ended any comeback thoughts with the final 6 points of the third quarter and first 10 of the fourth.
Not until Batavia's Taylor Brandt made a free throw with a minute left in the game followed by Jason Toth's bucket did the Bulldogs score in the fourth quarter.
Reserves Jimmy Liss and Brent Kage hit buckets of their own to conclude a big night for the Saints.
"We all needed that win," Patrick Woods said. "It's nice to see despite the struggles we had in four games we were able to stay together. It's easy when you are losing to point fingers. Winning cures all ills. I thought it showed some good character by staying together."
Ludke only missed one shot from the field while scoring 15 points. He and Kage also did the dirty work on defense taking charges Kage drew a pair.
"It was good looks and flow of the game," Ludke said of his shooting. "Everything was going in for us.
"We were just getting sick of it (losing). We know we can play a lot better. We were focused on coming out with intensity and showing how we can play."
Gardner led Batavia with 18 points and 8 rebounds. Strittmatter added 7 points and 7 rebounds and Knox chipped in 5 points and 9 rebounds.
"We were shellshocked at times out there but you have to keep fighting through it," said Roberts.
"I thought we did a much better job contesting shots (in the third quarter), a much better job sealing off. We came down and got some good looks ourselves."