Batavia holds off Wheaton North

Batavia jumped out to an early lead over Wheaton North Friday night but had to hold off a determined Falcon squad to preserve its 52-47 DuKane Conference win.

"I think we set the tone at the start of the game because of how hard we practiced this week," said Batavia senior Jayden Johnson, who scored a game-high 15 points, including two clutch free throws. "And the end of the game, we finished up the way we wanted to."

The host Bulldogs scored on their first three possessions of the game and held an 18-7 lead after the first quarter.

Batavia (11-9, 3-4) opened the second half with a 26-13 advantage. That's when the Falcons started a comeback.

Wheaton North outscored Batavia 15-6 in the period to trail only 32-28 at the start of the last quarter. Garret Horner (13 points) accounted for half of those points, going on a personal 8-0 run to end the frame.

"I thought Horner hit two big shots that sparked their rally. They were fadeaways. He's a player and can start things," said Batavia coach Jim Nazos.

Another Wheaton North (10-9, 2-5) spurt in the fourth quarter tied the game at 39. A Ben Bonga (14 points) basket with 4:21 left in the game knotted the score.

"We just started being more confident and aggressive in the second half. We played a very talented team," Wheaton North coach Dave Brackmann said. "We just have to find a way to get off to a better start. We dug ourselves a hole and we finally realized, hey we just got keep going at them."

Batavia quickly regained the advantage when Johnson canned two free throws at the 4:09 mark.

That's when the Falcons offense ran out of gas. Wheaton North committed turnovers on its next two possession and missed two free throws.

"We struggled to put the ball into basket down the stretch," Brackmann said. "We missed a couple of shots inside and made some poor decisions."

With 2:03 left in the contest, Devin Cheaney scored on a putback bucket to widened Batavia's margin to 43-39. The 6-foot-9 senior had 10 points and 14 rebounds.

"I was most proud on how we handled their run," Nazos said. "They tied it, we held our composure, we got to the free-throw line and the next possession we got a look inside and a layup."

Batavia closed out the game by sinking 9 of 11 free-throw attempts.

Bonga, Horner and Zach Lorentsen (12 points) provided the bulk of Wheaton North's offense.

Sophomore guard Kyle Neibach tallied 14 points for Batavia including four 3-pointers.