St. Charles North rallies past Batavia
To say the St. Charles North boys basketball team looked dead in the water is being kind.
The North Stars, winners of 4 of their first 5 games, couldn't get their offense going in the first half against visiting Batavia in Tuesday's Upstate Eight River showdown. They trailed 27-13 at halftime and were down 37-22 with 1:35 left in the third quarter.
Yet, the North Stars found a way to rally for a 46-41 victory while Batavia (2-4, 0-2) found a way to lose a fourth-quarter lead for the fourth time in 6 games.
Led by 14 points and 13 rebounds from 6-foot-5 junior center Kyle King, 6 points and 5 rebounds from 6-1 senior Ryan Callaghan and a game-high 17 points by senior guard Anthony Delisi, previously dormant St. Charles North (5-1, 2-0) erupted for a 17-0 run to take the lead.
"It was scary," King said of North's early struggles. "Defensively, we were doing what we were supposed to be doing, but our offense wasn't clicking. We couldn't find anything and we weren't shooting well. The fourth quarter came around and it was just energy. Our defense led to our offense."
Callaghan scored 3 straight buckets at the fourth-quarter's outset, twice assisted by King, to pull his team within 37-31 with 6:35 left.
King later drew the North Stars within a point after blocking a shot on one end, running the floor and scoring on the other.
Delisi gave St. Charles North its first lead of the game, 38-37, when he sliced through the lane for a driving layup with 4:03 remaining.
Ninety seconds later freshman guard Luke Scheffers stole a pass at midcourt and raced for an uncontested layup that stake the North Stars to a 40-37 cushion.
"It's my role to come off and get some energy, get some scoring and some momentum for the stretch," said Scheffers, who contributed 6 second-half points.
The game wasn't decided until the final sequence. Leading 44-41, Callaghan missed a bonus free throw. However, King snared the rebound and scored on a reverse layup with 12 seconds left to make it a 5-point game.
"Offensive rebounds, that's my game," King said. "That's what I love to do."
The Bulldogs didn't have to look long to figure out how they lost the lead. They committed 14 second-half turnovers, by coach Jim Nazos' count.
"All 4 of our losses we've had fourth-quarter leads," Nazos said. "We're close. I think we're a good team in the making. That first half is as well as we've played all year against a very good team on their floor. We've got to be able to persevere. I think we laid a little back in the fourth and we could have gone at them a little bit. We've got to learn, we've got to grow and we've got to come back."
Senior Colin Cheaney led Batavia with 15 points while freshman Jayden Johnson scored 11 points on 3-of-4 shooting from 3-point range while grabbing 9 rebounds.