Batavia dumps St. Francis for 1st win

Basketball coaches stress the importance of free-throw shooting in tight games.

Batavia's boys team knocked down 9 of 12 free throws in the 4-minute overtime during Friday night's 73-68 victory over St. Francis (1-2) at the 40th annual Ken Peddy Windmill City Classic.

Senior guard Canaan Coffey made 10 of 12 foul shots while pouring in a game-high 26 points as the Bulldogs (1-2) pocketed their first victory of the young season.

"It's awesome to finally get one and now we can get rolling," said Coffey, who added four 3-point baskets. "I'm confident in all of our guys to hit free throws. It's something you've got to work on but it's free points. You've got to hit them and our guys did tonight."

Kamontez Taylor scored 7 of his 15 points during the extra session, including a layup off a feed from Coffey on their first possession to give the Bulldogs a 58-56 lead.

"I thought we were really resilient and had three really good possessions right away (in overtime)," said Batavia coach Jim Nazos. "It was a good win against a good team."

After Coffey hit a pair of free throws with 14 seconds left in regulation to put the Bulldogs on top 56-53, the Spartans' Nick Cooney (9 points) connected on a coldblooded 3-pointer from the top of the key with 3 seconds remaining to force overtime.

"Stuff like that happens," Coffey said of the Spartans' tying 3-pointer. "You can't just put your head down because you've still got a whole four minutes of overtime to play.

"We all kept our heads and we knew we were going to come out aggressive in the overtime. We had to get back to the bench and get ready for overtime."

Batavia led 26-21 at halftime and 41-38 after 3 quarters thanks in part to buzzer-beating shots of its own. John Fitch (13 points) converted his own putback at the halftime buzzer to stretch the Bulldogs' lead to 5 while Coffey drained a 3-pointer at the horn to snap a 38-38 deadlock.

"I thought we were really good in executing at the end of quarters," said Nazos. "Actually, I thought our execution was good all the way through the night."

Batavia, which hit 24 of 30 free throws, made 18 consecutive foul shots at one point, including all 10 of its fourth-quarter attempts.

"That helps - every little bit helps," said Nazos.

Carter Eberhardt came off the bench to add 9 points, 7 rebounds and 2 steals for the Bulldogs.

Gabriel Johnson paced the Spartans (1-2) with 20 points and 7 rebounds while Tim Lilly and Will Rowan scored 9 points apiece.

"I thought it was an awesome game," said Spartans coach Erin Dwyer. "If you're going to come watch a basketball game, that's the type of game you're going to want to watch.

"We may have lost the game but we made a huge step forward."

St. Francis, outscored 24-9 at the free-throw line, shot just 50 percent at the charity stripe (9 for 18).

"When it goes into overtime, everything gets magnified," said Dwyer. "We have to improve our free-throw shooting and we'll get there."