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St. Charles East tops Batavia in regional final

Home proved pretty sweet for St. Charles East.

A year after losing a regional championship to Geneva on the Vikings' home floor, the Saints played Batavia right where they wanted Friday - on their own home court with a sea of orange-clad students cheering them on.

St. Charles East scored the first 9 points and never looked back, leading by at least 15 points throughout the second half on its way to a 58-41 victory.

"We really wanted it last year, came up short, but this year we got it," said Evan DiLeonardi, one of the seniors who played a big role on last year's team. "Feels great. It meant a lot to win on our court. This type of environment, this kind of game, I have so much adrenaline."

No. 5 seed St. Charles East (17-12) claimed its 24th regional title, its first since 2007. The Saints will play Prairie Ridge (25-3) at Rock Valley College at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

After beating the Saints by 3 points last year, Geneva ended up going all the way to the Class 4A state tournament. St. Charles East will look to Zach Mitchell, a team-high 17 points Friday, Zach Hondlik (11 points, 8 rebounds), and company to keep things rolling next week.

"We were disappointed last year, and I think the guys who returned were really hungry for it," Saints coach Patrick Woods said. "And the fact we were on our home court with all these great fans I think really helped us, gave us a lot of energy. We love playing here. I'm so happy for our seniors to go out with an experience like this."

No. 2 seed Batavia (20-10), denied what would have been its first regional since 2006, made just 5 of 19 shots in scoring 11 first-half points. The Saints were up 13-4 after the first quarter, then closed the first half on a 15-2 surge to lead comfortably 28-11 at halftime.

DiLeonardi held Batavia star Canaan Coffey scoreless in the first half.

"Evan is just so tough," Woods said. "Physically he's such a presence. He had a lot of help though. We did it together. We knew what we had to do. Thought we did a great job communicating."

The Saints also started slow, going scoreless for the first 3:36 before DiLeonardi's layup. Mitchell followed with another transition basket and then scored on a putback after a fastbreak miss as St. Charles East succeeded in pushing the pace early.

"They are a great half-court defensive team so we wanted to get quick scores as much as possible," Woods said.

One of the few good stretches for Batavia came early in the second quarter when Kamontez Thomas drained a 3-pointer and sophomore Eric Peterson scored on an athletic finish at the rim.

It didn't last long for the Bulldogs as they didn't score a point for the next 6:30, missing several shots from point-blank range.

"We were never really able to get rhythm," Batavia coach Jim Nazos said. "They played really well. They did a lot of good things. They made some things difficult especially on Canaan."

Batavia made a brief run in the third quarter to get within 35-20 and had a layup that would have made it a 13-point game. Justin Hardy came out of nowhere to block the shot, and it led to Mitchell's layup on the other end for a 4-point swing.

The Saints led 41-24 after three quarters and took its biggest lead at 55-29 on Benjamin Talarczyk's slam. The big home crowd loved that and also a 3-pointer moments later from Grayson Brucato.

"We're playing our best basketball right now and that's the key," said Woods, whose team outrebounded Batavia 33-23 and only committed 4 turnovers. "Tonight had to be one of our best if not our best game of the season."

Thomas led Batavia with 11 points while Coffey finished with 7.

"Tough loss but looking back on the season I wouldn't change anything," Coffey said. "We're all devested right now because of how much we worked, how much we cared. We just have to look back on what we did - conference champions, 20-win season - and be proud."

"These seniors were the blueprint of how to do things," Nazos said. "They had a great run. They are the perfect guys you want to coach. They play bigger than they are. They paved the way for the groups behind them. They are winners."

Images: St. Charles East claims regional title with a 58-41 win over Batavia in boys basketball

  St. Charles East's Justin Hardy kisses the Class 4A regional championship plaque after their victory over Batavia in St. Charles Friday. Laura Stoecker/lstoecker@dailyherald.com
  St. Charles East's Evan DiLeonardi (12) and the bench celebrate a slam dunk by teammate Benjamin Talarczyk in the fourth quarter of the Class 4A regional championship in St. Charles Friday. Laura Stoecker/lstoecker@dailyherald.com
  St. Charles East's James McQuillan and Zachary Mitchell embrace as the seconds tick down in the quarter of the Class 4A regional championship as their victory is sealed over Batavia in St. Charles Friday. Laura Stoecker/lstoecker@dailyherald.com
  Batavia's Eric Peterson sinks a shot past St. Charles East's Evan DiLeonardi (12) in the second quarter of the Class 4A regional championship in St. Charles Friday. Laura Stoecker/lstoecker@dailyherald.com
  Batavia's Eric Peterson (5) shoots past St. Charles East's Zachary Hondlik (10) in the first quarter of the Class 4A regional championship in St. Charles Friday. Laura Stoecker/lstoecker@dailyherald.com
  St. Charles East's Evan DiLeonardi (left) dribbles around an attempted block by Batavia's Brett Bowman in the second quarter of the Class 4A regional championship in St. Charles Friday. Laura Stoecker/lstoecker@dailyherald.com
  Batavia's St. Charles East's Justin Hardy (32) reaches for a rebound in the second quarter of the Class 4A regional championship in St. Charles Friday. Laura Stoecker/lstoecker@dailyherald.com
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