Boys basketball: Carbonaro’s 26 points, all-around excellence too much for Batavia
There’s no secret that Wheaton Warrenville South likes to run its offense through senior Luca Carbonaro.
Whether it be with corner 3s or contested layups — or even no-look passes for assists — Carbonaro has full reign over the Tigers' offense.
And against Batavia, he showed off his skill set in full force.
Carbonaro put up 26 points on 50% shooting (11-of-22), along with six rebounds, seven assists and four steals to help the Tigers take down Batavia 54-44.
“He’s just a really special player,” Tigers coach Mike Healy said. “He knows that he has free rein of the offense. And the guys know that he’s a pretty special offensive player. But he also finds guys and gets guys some open looks too.”
The Tigers (10-4 overall, 4-1 DuKane Conference) have gone 8-1 in their last nine games, including going 4-0 in DuKane Conference play after starting the season 2-3 after losing their conference opener to Geneva.
Carbonaro made his presence known on the floor early in the contest, scoring all 12 of the Tigers' first-quarter points. The senior ended up finishing the first half with 17 points.
“I just got going early and got to my spots,” Carbonaro said. “I was hitting some tough shots, but that’s what I’ve got to do to help out this team and help us win games.”
After ending the first quarter with the score knotted 12-12, the Tigers went on a 7-0 run in the first four minutes of the second quarter to create a lead that they would never give up thanks to their defensive play.
“I thought we did some good stuff defensively,” Healy said. “I thought that every shot that they took was hard, and I thought we had more deflections than we’ve had lately. So I was really happy to see that.”
Once the Bulldogs' defense focus turned on Carbonaro, the senior turned his focus on finding teammates like junior Zach Rogers (13 points) and senior Brady Goken (11 points, nine rebounds).
“Those guys have been awesome outlets for me,” Carbonaro said. “When times are getting tough and I’m not hitting shots, I know that those two will deliver for me. I’ve got the utmost trust in them, and I’m excited for what they’re going to do going forward.”
Batavia (7-7, 2-3) could never manage to make up the ground it lost in the second quarter, mainly staying two or three possessions behind WW South for the majority of the contest. Despite the result, head coach Jim Nazos said he feels that his team isn’t as far off as they feel they were.
“I think that in a lot of ways, we are getting better, but we’re not all the way there yet to get that team,” Nazos said. “They’re a good team, so credit to them.
“We were kind of learning to get some of those possessions to go our way, but they do a good job defensively. It’s why they have all those wins right now.”
Senior Jax Abalos led the team in scoring with 19 points, including 13 in the second half, to go with seven rebounds. Junior Brett Berggren added nine points and six rebounds.