Peez lifts Batavia with pressure free throws

Sitting on the bench following a St. Francis timeout, Batavia's Chasen Peez had one thing on his mind - well, actually two.

"Make these free throws, make these free throws, make these free throws," said Peez.

The 6-foot-7 senior center did just that, sinking both foul shots with 14.5 seconds remaining to give his team a 56-55 lead.

When the Spartans' Jason Sullivan misfired on a desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer, the Bulldogs (3-0) erupted in celebration after their 1-point victory in Friday's fourth day of the 39th annual Ken Peddy Windmill City Classic in Batavia.

"I was a little bit nervous - I'm not going to lie," said Peez, who scored 7 of his 10 points in the final 3 ½ minutes. "But I think our defense won the game for us on that last play, pushing Sullivan and their guards out."

Bulldogs coach Jim Nazos was pleased with his team's determination after falling behind 52-47 with 2:13 remaining.

"I thought we did a real good job of keeping our composure," said Nazos. "We had to be perfect from that moment on with (defensive) stops and we had a lot of things go our way the last two minutes."

Peez split a pair of free throws and added a layup off a feed from junior guard Canaan Coffey (team-high 11 points) to trim the Spartans' lead to 52-50 with 1:35 left.

After St. Francis missed 2 free throws, junior guard Kamontez Thomas drained a coldblooded 3-pointer to put the Bulldogs on top 53-52 with 59 seconds remaining.

Thomas' free throw upped the lead to 54-52 before Sullivan answered with a clutch 3-pointer at the other end with 20 seconds remaining to put the Spartans ahead 55-54, setting the stage for Peez's winning foul shots.

"The bottom line is it was a great win against a great team," said Nazos. "Sullivan hit a big shot there - he's a heck of a player. Actually, I thought his half-court shot was in, too. I've been on the wrong side of those."

Sullivan scored a game-high 21 points for the Spartans, who trailed 22-14 at halftime after shooting just 10 percent (2 of 20) from the field in the first 16 minutes.

"Even though we didn't shoot it well, we defended well in the first half," said St. Francis coach Bob Ward. "In the second half, we were a little bit more consistent with running our stuff."

Gabe Johnson and Mike Shaw each added 13 points for the Spartans (2-1).

"At the end, it just comes down two teams early in the year really going at each other," added Ward.

Jacob Roberts had 7 points, Tyler Lovestrand added 6 and Danny Pieczynski chipped in with a game-high 9 rebounds for the Bulldogs, who will try to capture their own tourney title tonight against Chicago Marine Leadership Academy (0-3).