Boys basketball: Batavia falls to undefeated St. Patrick in Tosh tournament quarterfinals

Senior guard Joe Reid is aiming to make a memorable mark on Batavia’s program.

After being pulled up to the varsity in his junior season, Reid has become a staple in the program — just like his older brothers.

Thus far, the 6-foot Reid embodies the height-challenged Bulldogs, relying on his toughness, guile and determination to lead the Bulldogs.

Reid said his brothers helped show him the Bulldog way.

“I take after my brothers,” Reid said. “They play Division III basketball. They got me in the gym and taught me everything I know. I give them all the credit.”

After two solid games in the 51st annual Jack Tosh Holiday Classic, the Bulldogs met their match on Monday night against undefeated St. Patrick.

Six-foot-8 senior forward R.J. McPartlin finished with a double-double, scoring a game-high 17 points and pulling down 13 rebounds in St. Patrick’s 58-43 win over Batavia in the quarterfinals of the Jack Tosh at York High School.

The Shamrocks (12-0) overpowered the Bulldogs (4-6) with a decided size and bulk advantage, racked up 38 rebounds and pounded the ball into the paint for lay-ins. Six-foot-7 Omar Ajanovic added 12 points and six boards and guards Maurice Neeley and Joe Costanzo both had a big game for the Shamrocks.

“We had a clear advantage in height,” McPartlin said. “At the end of the game, when they started to key on that, our guards were ready and knocked in shots.”

Reid and Evan Blankenship both scored 13 points to spark the Bulldogs. Reid shot 3-for-10 on 3s, while Blankenship was 3-for-12.

“St. Patrick is a good team and I thought they played well,” Batavia coach Jim Nazos said. “I think we’re getting closer and are improving, but the second half we had some deficiencies but part of that was enticed by St. Patrick. I think we can learn from this. We’re taking strides but they are undefeated for a reason. That’s a very good team, but I like how we competed. We’ve dealt with that before regarding size, but we don’t care about the size and compete. They do a lot of good things.”

Just like in Friday’s 3-for-27 show from the 3-point line, the Bulldogs followed the same frustrating formula on Monday night. Despite spreading the shooting, the Bulldogs couldn’t connect from beyond the arc and shot 4-for-20 in the first half, including missing their last nine attempts of the second quarter. The Bulldogs managed to seize a 22-21 lead at halftime, mainly via crashing the offensive glass for putbacks. Batavia finished the game shooting 9 for 38 on 3s and had just eight offensive boards.

Still, Reid said the tournament has shown the Bulldogs are moving in the right direction following a sluggish start in the first month of the season.

“In this tournament we wanted to show what we really are after getting unlucky in some early games this season,” Reid said. “This tournament is getting us back in the swing of things and where we want to be.

“We knew they are a great team and have huge size,” Reid said. “I think we started off pretty bad, but we picked it up at the end and showed we can compete.”