Batavia beats Streamwood, ends 12-game skid

The joyful shouts coming from a boisterous Batavia postgame locker room haven’t been heard in some time. But players letting emotions go after snapping a 12-game losing streak can make things sound and feel differently.

“Obviously the kids are very happy and they deserve it, they have worked hard to get through this,” Batavia coach Jim Roberts said after his team finally got back into the win column Saturday night with a 67-46 victory over a short-handed Streamwood team.

Senior center Cole Gardner led the host Bulldogs with a game-high 26 points and 10 rebounds, while Jake Pollack chipped in with 16 points in the Upstate Eight River Division clash.

But junior point guard Mike Rueffer also played a key role in his first game back since fracturing his elbow when the Bulldogs lost at Streamwood a month ago.

Rueffer played tough defense on Sabre guard Brandon Larkin-Guilfoyle, who led his team with 15 points but had only two second-half field goals. In addition, Rueffer showed his elbow was in working order by knocking down three 3-pointers on his way to 11 points.

Streamwood (4-18, 1-10) jumped to an early lead in a game pitting two teams hoping to stay out of the conference division cellar. The Sabres opened a 20-13 lead after one quarter by hitting four of the five 3-pointers they would have in the game as Jacob Siewert and Brent Kiesel each canned two.

But Gardner was having his own way inside, eventually piling up 17 points and 7 rebounds in the first half in pushing Batavia to a 28-26 halftime lead.

The Sabres, playing without forwards Vince Williams and Joel Lightbourne, both out with knee injuries, watched the game start to slip away early in the second half.

Gardner and Rueffer combined to score 12 quick points to open a 52-38 lead. Gardner completed a three-point play off a fast break, and Rueffer banged down a 3-pointer after Gardner worked hard to keep the ball alive on the Batavia backboard and kick it out to his teammate.

“I love running the floor because it gives me chances to do things with the ball and get passes from my teammates,” Gardner said of the fast-break hoop that put Streamwood back on its heels. “We do it all the time in practice, and tonight my knee was feeling real good.”

With Streamwood wearing down, Batavia (5-17, 2-9) built its lead in the fourth quarter, with Gardner scoring 9 points and Pollack adding 7 in the game’s final minutes.

Streamwood coach Tim Jones was pleased with his team’s effort, and hoped his 6-9 junior center, Zach Harris, learned from trying to defend Gardner before fouling out late in the game.

“Gardner is tough to stop and hopefully Zach learns from playing guys like that, Jones said. “Maybe next year, he’ll turn into a Gardner for us.”

Batavia had only three turnovers in the game, another signal that Rueffer was back on the floor for the first time in a month.

“The doctor said my elbow is 100 percent and that the fracture wasn’t there any more,” Rueffer said. “I wanted to get back in the flow of the game by playing defense and I figured the offense would take care of itself.”

Batavia sank 27 of 59 shots from the floor for 45 percent, while Streamwood made 18 of 46 for 39 percent. The Bulldogs enjoyed a slight rebounding edge at 27-24.

“Injuries are an unfortunate part of athletics, and we have been hit by them, but so have other teams,” Roberts said of his team finally being pieced back together. “You just try to get through it, and to our kids credit, we have done a good job (of not dwelling on the losing streak).”

Now, Batavia wants to look forward to a more positive spin on the season’s final weeks.

“We have some games to finish up that we think we can win,” Rueffer said. “And we believe we can have a long postseason run.”