Neuqua Valley steers clear of Batavia
Kids don’t like it when their friends play keepaway with their hats or whatever, but it’s a pretty solid concept in basketball.
The Neuqua Valley boys basketball team played keep-away with the lead Thursday night thanks to a 21-point third quarter and went home a 66-54 winner over Batavia in the third-place game of the Elgin Holiday Tournament.
The Wildcats (7-7) opened a double-digit lead on the Bulldogs (4-7) late in the third but never quite put Batavia in their rear-view mirror.
“We couldn’t shake them. We’d be up and the Bulldogs kept fighting back,” said Neuqua coach Todd Sutton.
But one of the big reasons Neuqua kept Batavia at bay was senior guard Tyler Sutton. He scored a game-high 18 points thanks to five 3-point baskets, three in the second half.
Batavia pulled to within 3 on a three-point play by Jake Pollack with 4:09 gone in the second half. Tyler Sutton’s answer was a 3 to put the Wildcats up by 6, and about 20 seconds later, a three-point play by Darien Miskel increased the lead to 9. And similar plays happened two more times in the contest.
“I have to come through. I’m a leader and a captain on this team,” Tyler Sutton said.
Batavia would cut Neuqua’s advantage twice to 9 in the last 4:30 of the contest, but a balanced Neuqua attack with Jabari Sandifer’s 15 points, Peter Catchings’ 12 and Pat Kenny’s 10 joining Tyler Sutton in the double-digit club put the final seal on the win. Sandifer had 8 assists.
“If we shoot better, he’ll get 10 or 11. I look for him to break the school record this season,” Todd Sutton said of Sandifer, who had ankle surgery in October.
A night after taking an elbow to his head and suffering a cut during the third quarter of Wednesday night’s 59-35 loss to La Lumiere (Ind.), the only visible reminder on Cole Gardner’s head was a small bandage near his hair line.
He paced the Bulldogs’ offense with 17 points and 11 rebounds.
“I thought in the first half he hurt us,” Todd Sutton said. “We made some small adjustments at halftime. His teammates did a great job of getting him the ball.” Gardner scored 10 points in the first half and the Bulldogs trailed just 26-23 at intermission.
“They answered everything we did. We came out in the second half and there were some empty possessions from us. It went from 3 to 11. That was the difference in the game,” said Batavia coach Jim Roberts.
Batavia’s offense was also sparked by 13 points from Zach Strittmatter and 11 from Mike Rueffer. Starting guard Jake Pollack went out with an ankle injury in the first quarter and did not return. Roberts did not know the extent of the injury.
The contest ended 2011 for both teams. Neuqua sees progress as the major portion of the season awaits it.
“We went 3-1 in this tournament. We’re getting real close to being an excellent team,” Tyler Sutton said.
As for Batavia, Roberts was pleased with the Bulldogs reaching the third-place game but wished there had been a better performance.
“It’s a nice accomplishment to playing on the last evening of the tournament,” he said. “But I’m disappointed that we didn’t come out with more passion than we did tonight,” he said.