Batavia dumps Larkin to clinch share of Upstate Eight River title
It's been a long wait, but for the first time since 2008 Batavia's boys basketball team earned at least a share of the Upstate Eight title in the River Division after a hard fought 58-53 win at Larkin on Friday night. The Bulldogs can win the title outright with a win in either of their last two games of the regular season.
Batavia (18-8, 9-1) overcame a 46-43 deficit and outscored the Royals 15-7 in the final 6 minutes to pull out the win. Canaan Coffey led the Bulldogs with 20 points and Carter Eberhardt added 12 points.
"I am extremely jacked for every single player on this team," Batavia coach Jim Nazos said. "It's been a long process, but these kids have worked hard for this."
With just over 5 minutes to play Batavia point guard Kamontez Thomas scored on a driving layup to pull the Bulldogs to within 46-45. Then with 3:53 left Thomas hit a 3-pointer to put the Bulldogs ahead for good 48-46. It was Thomas's only 2 field goals of the night.
"We don't count on him for scoring," Nazos said. "He's the ultimate point guard in that he defers the ball to his teammates, but if you leave him open he can hit the shot and he made a couple big ones tonight."
After shooting just 3 of 9 from the free throw line in the first half, the Bulldogs were a perfect 12-for-12 in the second half, including 8 of 8 in the final 4 minutes to help seal the win. Batavia also had just 1 turnover after taking the lead.
"We played really well at the end of the game," Nazos said. "There's a lot of factors. It's having a little mental toughness and showing some maturity. But it's really a product of a complete team win and having everybody come together when they needed to."
Coffey was a consistent factor throughout the game with three 3-pointers in the first half and then 10 points in the second half.
"This is an awesome feeling," Coffey said. "You can tell by the reaction on the bench and from the stands that this is something we have really worked hard for. Every person on this team deserves this. We have a lot of experienced players on this team who like to play under pressure and that experience really helped in a close game like tonight."
Larkin standout Christian Negron was held to just 11 points. Keyvon Kyles led the Royals with 13 points. Larkin (12-10, 5-5) was without starting guard AJ Hunter because of disciplinary reasons.
"This game was lost far before that last 6 minutes," Larkin coach Deryn Carter said. "I'll take the blame. We need to get back to what has been successful for us in the past and holding players to a higher standard. We need to work harder and smarter and we will. We have seen bits and pieces of what we need to be successful. Now in the final two weeks we need to bring it all together."