Batavia charges past St. Charles North
The first thing Batavia senior Michael Fee went looking for following the Bulldogs' 50-43 win over St. Charles North on Tuesday at the Class 4A St. Charles East regional was an ice pack.
It was no wonder why. Fee sacrificed his body helping Batavia win, drawing 4 charges in a game with 8 total.
Jake Spaniol from St. Charles North actually earned the first one on Batavia star Canaan Coffey just 36 seconds into the game. That proved to be a sign of things to come as Fee stepped in front of the North Stars' leading scorer Michael Schroeder 18 seconds later.
Fee also took a charge on Jarod Karom in the second quarter and then drew two more in the third, plays that sent him looking for that ice pack as he was run over by 6-foot-5 Kyle King and 6-5 Griffin Hammer.
"We work on it a lot," Schroeder said. "It's just getting in position. Once you see the ball coming you just set up and take it. It's just what we do. It was a big part of tonight's game."
Tyler Tamplin drew 2 more charges for Batavia, one against Karom and the other Schroeder.
No. 2 seed Batavia (20-9) reached 20 wins for the first time since 2008. The Bulldogs will play the winner of Wednesday's matchup between No. 5 St. Charles East (15-12) and No. 3 Geneva (22-6) for the regional title.
"Michael has done that all year," Batavia coach Jim Nazos said. "He does so many little things for us that aren't going to show up in rebounds and points. He is a big reason why we've had the success we've had. Michael might be the glue to our whole team. He just does everything right that nobody sees."
No. 10 seed St. Charles North (8-16) led 10-4 early on Spaniol's conventional 3-point play. Hammer scored off an out-of-bounds play just before the first quarter buzzer to lead 12-9.
The North Stars did not make another field goal until King's basket with 5:31 left in the third period. By that time the Bulldogs had grabbed a 27-15 lead, and St. Charles North would get no closer than 6 until the final minute.
"Anyone that beats you three times they are a better basketball team," North Stars coach Tom Poulin said. "I wish them the best. I felt the second quarter was where we ended our season. We turned the ball over and let one mistake bleed into the next possession. You can't do that in the tournament."
The North Stars only turned the ball over 10 times in the game but 6 came in that second quarter when they were outscored 13-3.
"Our kids did a great job mentally as well as physically tonight making really good decisions," Nazos said. "We had a good defensive quarter the second quarter that helped give us some breathing room."
Leading 37-25 going to the fourth, the Bulldogs took a minute off the clock on a couple possessions and still maintained a 48-36 cushion at 1:08 on Coffey's free throws.
Hammer drained back-to-back 3s to give North life. Eberhardt's free throw put Batavia up 49-42.
King was fouled at :32.7. He made the first, missed the second and the North Stars got the rebound and fired a 3-pointer that would have made it a 1-possession game. The shot missed, and the Bulldogs were able to start looking ahead to Friday's regional final and a chance for their first regional crown since Jim Roberts' 2006 team that lost to West Aurora in a memorable sectional championship battle.
"You are in a regional championship you are going to play a great team," Nazos said. "I'm just glad we only have to play one of them. It's a UEC tournament trying to get to the sectional."
Eberhardt scored 14 points and Coffey added 13 for Batavia. John Fitch grabbed 10 rebounds as the teams finished in a near draw, 24-23.
Hammer (13), King (11), Schroeder (10) and Spaniol (7) supplied all but 2 of the points for the North Stars who closed the year winning 5 of their final 8.
"I'm really proud of this group," Poulin said. "There were numerous opportunities for them to shut it down. They didn't do that. That tells you what type of team we are. We did what every team tries to do and that's play our best basketball in March."