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Monkemeyer sparks St. Charles East in win over Batavia

Following a 6th-place finish at the always competitive Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic, St. Charles East's basketball team began the 2019 portion of its schedule with a much-needed 65-59 DuKane Conference victory over Batavia Saturday night in St. Charles.

Junior forward Chase Monkemeyer provided a big lift for the Saints (10-7, 3-2) with a game-high 22 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and a pair of steals in a starting assignment while senior teammates Nate Ortiz and Cody Mitchell added 16 and 14 points, respectively.

"Chase was awesome," Saints coach Patrick Woods said of Monkemeyer, who helped his team stay in the game early by scoring all 10 of its first-quarter points.

"He is a very hard worker and he's a student of the game. I think he's the best at letting the game come to him. He doesn't force things. He gets everything in the flow of the game."

Monkemeyer made his presence felt around the basket, hitting 8 of 12 field-goal attempts while driving the baseline and attacking the boards for second-chance buckets.

"My role is just going out and playing hard - scoring, getting rebounds and playing defense," said Monkemeyer. "I try to find the open guy and if it's there, I'll take it."

Led by Jayden Johnson (20 points, 7 rebounds) and Marko Yager (13 points, 9 rebounds), Batavia (7-7, 2-3) held a 12-10 first-quarter advantage that carried into the early stages of the second quarter.

Taking the lead for good at 19-18 on a free throw by sophomore guard Tommy Craven, the Saints outscored the Bulldogs 12-6 during the final 3 ½ minutes of the second period to go up 30-24 at the half.

Ortiz capped the surge by knocking down a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 5 seconds remaining until intermission.

St. Charles East carried the momentum into the third quarter where it built a 15-point lead at 43-28 and kept the Batavia off the score sheet for the first 5 minutes, 38 seconds.

"We had a little scoring drought there and St. Charles East played well and contributed majorly to that," said Batavia coach Jim Nazos. "We went through a 5 ½-minute span there in the third quarter and I think we got looks at the basket.

"If we're struggling to score, we've got to be extremely good on the other end. You can't have scoring droughts and not get (defensive) stoppages."

The Bulldogs played without the services of senior starting guard Jack Carlson, who suffered a sprained ankle during Friday's practice and could be sidelined for 1-2 weeks.

"The loss doesn't feel good but there are things to build on," added Nazos.

St. Charles East made 27 of its 39 free-throw opportunities, including 14 of 21 in the fourth quarter.

"One of our goals is to try and get to the basket more," said Woods. "I thought we managed the game better - not perfectly but better at the end."

Mark Musial added 6 points for the Saints.

"What people don't realize is that we're 10-7 and six of those losses are to teams who were in the top 25 at one point," said Woods, "and we were winning five of them in the fourth quarter.

"We're not that far away."

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