St. Charles East holds off Batavia
Batavia put the pressure on St. Charles East to close out a hard-fought Upstate Eight River game Friday night at St. Charles, and the Saints executed everything they had to to do just that.
Sophomore Charles Murphy sank two key free throws, the Saints ran time off the clock flawlessly, and Justin Hardy provided the final nail in the coffin and capped his 28-point night with 4 more free throws for a 53-48 victory.
Batavia (9-8, 2-4) had cut into a 32-23 Saints lead early in the third quarter to 41-39 heading to the fourth. The Bulldogs never caught up, despite twice pulling within one point in the final two minutes.
After a long, off-balance 3-pointer from Colin Cheaney brought the Bulldogs within 47-46 with 1:45 left, the Saints (12-4, 4-1) stalled for over a minute before Murphy was fouled. A call-up at Christmastime, Murphy calmly made both.
"He's a great shooter, he's going to be a big part of our future," Saints coach Patrick Woods said. "I thought he handled himself very well. I wasn't worried when they fouled him because I knew he would make them. I think we have some players who do a nice job stepping up (at the line)."
JT Dietz connected on a pair of free throws to bring Batavia back within 49-48 with 29 seconds left. This time Batavia fouled Hardy, who made both for a 51-48 lead.
The Bulldogs tried for a tying 3, but after sinking seven in the game, this one didn't fall. Hardy grabbed the rebound and made 2 more free throws for the final margin.
"It's been a crazy week not really knowing if we were going to be in school or practicing," Hardy said after the school was closed Tuesday and Wednesday and 13 of the 14 players got sick. "It's been a brutal week but we fought through it."
The teams battled through 14 ties or lead changes in the first half. Once Zach Mitchell nailed a corner 3 and Zach Robinson beat the second-quarter buzzer with another 3, the Saints had a 29-23 halftime lead and never trailed again.
Jack Zylke added 10 points for the Saints.
"I am so glad we made it through this week because Batavia is good," Woods said. "They play hard, coach (Jim) Nazos does a great job, I'm just so happy we were able to weather the storm sort of speak."
Blake Carlson led Batavia with 13 points. Dietz scored 11 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and had 2 steals and a block, and Devion Davis added 9 points off the bench.
"Tough game right there," Nazos said. "I thought St. Charles East did a really good job closing the game. They were perfect the last 4 or 5 possessions. The second half I don't think we played that bad, St. Charles East just played better."