Batavia 62, Kaneland 47
The saying goes "all good things must come to an end," and for Batavia basketball fans, that's just what happened in a 62-47 win over Kaneland Friday night.
One of the school's all-time greats went out with one of his all-time greatest performances.
Nick Fruendt put an exclamation point -- make that two exclamation points -- on his Batavia home career, a four-year run that started with a bang as a freshman and has been filled with highlight after highlight ever since.
None of those moments were any better than Friday, when Fruendt scored 27 points, including two slam dunks that sent a packed house into a frenzy.
"All year all my friends nonstop have been, 'When are you going to dunk,'" Fruendt said. "It was cool."
Fruendt's first dunk came after a David Bryant steal in the first quarter. Bryant threw ahead to Fruendt for the breakaway slam.
Bryant also assisted on Fruendt's second dunk, this time in much more spectacular fashion. Bryant again stole the ball near half court, dribbled a few steps and tossed an alley-oop that Fruendt skied for and grabbed to dunk over a Kaneland defender.
"This (pass) was really high and I got up as well as I have all year and it was straight down," Fruendt said.
Fruendt was one of eight seniors honored before the game. The group then went out and put the finishing touches on another championship-filled regular season, outscoring Kaneland 25-10 in the second quarter to take a 19-point halftime lead. Batavia led 60-32 after three quarters before the Knights outscored them 15-2 in the fourth.
The win gives Batavia (20-5, 12-2) the outright Western Sun Conference championship over DeKalb. Kaneland finished the regular season at 9-16, 5-9.
The Western Sun title is the latest in a long line of accomplishments the last four years. Batavia is 87-22 in that span, with over half the losses (12) coming in Fruendt's freshman year with a young team that had five new starters.
The Bulldogs are 70-10 the last three years, winning at least 20 games every year and reaching the sectional championship game twice in Fruendt's three years.
Fruendt scored his 27 points on 12-of-18 shooting from the field. He also grabbed 9 rebounds.
"Lot of emotion, I was playing with a lot of energy," Fruendt said. "There's so many memories here. I just wanted to leave it all there."
Fruendt had plenty of company with fellow seniors and two-year starters Jordan Smith and Phil Albrecht, plus reserves Stew Charles, Jordan Church, Peter West, Jim White and Josiah Norville all being recognized with their parents before the game.
Smith scored 8 points and grabbed 9 rebounds while Albrecht buried three 3-pointers and scored 10.
"Just standing there before the game, four years, freshman year playing on sophomore team and then come down to this walking out with my parents, it was bittersweet," Smith said. "Last time we got to play in front of that great student section. It was just good emotions."
The Knights came much closer to Batavia in the first meeting, losing 45-38 in one of the eight games Fruendt missed with mono.
"We had our hands full," Kaneland coach Dennis Hansen said. "I just wish we would have performed better. We left a lot of guys wide open.
"They (Batavia) shot the ball well, they were moving the ball well, and we weren't playing defense very well in the second quarter and they advantage of it."
Nick Wagner and Dave Dudzinski led Kaneland with 12 and 10 points. Steve Colombe added 9 off the bench.
The Knights head to Sycamore to play Sandwich Monday night in Class 3A regional action.
"Hopefully we'll rebound (Monday)," Hansen said. "It's a new season and we'll see what happens."
It's also a new season for Batavia, who will put its No. 1 seed in the East Aurora sectional on the line in Bartlett Tuesday night, against either Benet or Lake Park.
Emotions no doubt will be riding high, just like they were Friday.
"I just tried to soak it all in," Fruendt said. "It's kind of sad to tell you the truth. It's been a heck of a ride and it's not over yet. Last home game though, it was emotional."