Batavia loses to Oswego East
Batavia’s performance Saturday night at East Aurora’s second annual Ernie Kivisto Hoopfest was kind of a microcosm of the Bulldogs’ season.
Batavia played well in spurts, but could not sustain it against Oswego East, which won 64-49.
“Consistency is something we have to continue to grow with,” said Batavia coach Jim Roberts, whose Bulldogs have consistently hugged the .500 mark. Now 10-10, it’s the sixth fresh start for Batavia this season.
The front line of 6-foot-6 Elliott Vaughn, 6-5 Cole Gardner and 6-5 Zach Strittmatter had the height over Oswego East, topped out by 6-3 center Kalmon Stokes. At the start and a 2-3 zone defense presented problems to Oswego East (11-8).
“We thought it could get ugly,” said Wolves coach Jason Buckley.
Batavia began with a high-low look, capitalizing on a pair of Gardner baskets, one each from Vaughn and Strittmatter and then a Mike Rueffer 3 to take an 11-7 lead.
Oswego East turned around with a 10-0 run — perhaps coinciding with Gardner’s second foul at the 3-minute mark — to close the quarter leading 17-11. Batavia never led again.
“The first couple minutes I was concerned,” Buckley said, “because they probably got 8 of the first 10 rebounds and they were getting their hands on so many basketballs.
“Thankfully our pressure, even from five feet, was a lot for them to handle and they were shooting contested four and five-footers, and difficult four- and five-footers.”
Oswego East’s C.J. Vaughan, Marcus Jones and Jermaine Campbell hurt the Bulldogs by slicing into the lane and either taking it to the hoop or dishing to open teammates.
“They moved well without the basketball,” Roberts said. “They caught us leaning a couple times, but that’s going to happen.”
Whenever Batavia encroached, Oswego East pushed the lead beyond its reach, and a little further each time.
Batavia cut an 8-point second-quarter deficit to 27-25 only to have Oswego East score the last 3 points for a 30-25 halftime lead.
A Gardner putback and Vaughn bucket brought Batavia within 34-29 early in the third quarter. Oswego East went on a 12-4 run.
Jesse Coffey drove for 2 and Strittmatter sank 2 free throws to cut the margin to 46-37. Oswego countered with a 6-0 burst for a 14-point lead at 6:43 of the fourth quarter and that was about it.
Strittmatter led Batavia with 14 points, followed by Vaughn with 12 and Coffey with 11. Oswego East’s Vaughan scored a game-high 15 points while Jones had 12 with 12 rebounds.
“I thought our effort was good most of the night, we just didn’t shoot very well tonight, I didn’t think,” Coffey said of 18-for-56 marksmanship. “And their quickness, they forced us into a couple things we didn’t want to go. They got up a little bit early and we were never really able to come back from that.”