In final home game, Coffey leads Batavia past Elgin

An era ended for Brian and Lorene Coffey in Batavia Saturday night.

For the past nine years the parents of four athletic boys have spent their winter evenings glued to the wooden bleachers in Batavia's gymnasium watching one or more of their sons play basketball.

It began when Jordan Coffey ('09) made the team as a junior in 2007-08, and continued through three varsity seasons apiece for Jesse ('11), Micah ('14) and, last but not least, Canaan ('16), whose final home game resulted in a 54-43 win over Elgin.

"I know we should feel sad with the end of this last decade of high school sports, but it's really hard for me to be sad because it's been so much fun," Brian Coffey said. "And this team we didn't see coming. I've been trying to generate some sad feelings, but it's really hard to because it's been so much fun."

Canaan, who this season led Batavia to an unexpected outright championship of the Upstate Eight River, left the court with a minute to play, marking the final time a Coffey stepped off Batavia hardwood. He led the Bulldogs with 15 points, including three 3-pointers.

"It's tough being the last one," Canaan said. "It's kind of surreal and hasn't really sunk in at this point. It's special playing at Batavia. We have something going here that not many schools have. It's definitely tough, but you just have to look back on it and see how fun it was these past four years."

Batavia (19-8, 10-1) enjoyed a relatively smooth home finale against a short-handed Elgin squad missing 6-3 senior Jacob Zajac (fever) and starting junior guard Reggie Cole (ankle). The Bulldogs took a 25-16 halftime lead despite shooting 7 of 24 from the field because the Maroons made 11 turnovers.

Elgin (17-11, 5-6) played with two sophomores making their respective varsity debuts, Trevon Morris and Dan Toolsie. Morris scored 9 fourth-quarter points and Toolsie scored his 6 points in the second half to help trim a 20-point deficit to 9 at one point.

"One hundred percent proud," Elgin coach Mike Sitter said of his team. "They played their butts off. We just turned it over way too many times. I'll take that effort in a loss. It's better than playing half-(speed) and winning. I'd rather have guys leave it all on the court and leaving here proud of themselves."

Elgin 6-foot-8 junior Courtese Cooper posted a rare double-double. He scored only 5 points but blocked 10 shots and grabbed 13 rebounds.

"They all looked small to me," Cooper said of the Bulldogs. "The whole team, everyone is four inches shorter than me. I came into the game thinking this is my game. I just had to defend the rim."

Batavia guards Carter Eberhardt and Kamontez Thomas were among the eight seniors honored before their final home game. Thomas scored 9 points and Eberhardt finished with 12 points on the strength of four 3-pointers.

"As a team we just wanted to end strong," Eberhardt said. "Individually, we've been putting in extra work after practice. The shots were falling and it felt great."

Senior guard Desmond Douglas led Elgin with 13 points.