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St. Charles East rallies past Batavia

The St. Charles East bench had a big say in Tuesday's 81-78 comeback win over visiting Batavia.

The hot-shooting Bulldogs led 40-30 at halftime but the Saints took the lead for good on reserve Sean Sullivan's 3-pointer from the corner with 3:20 left in the fourth quarter.

It was an appropriate way to combat the Bulldogs considering they drained 15 of 32 attempts from 3-point range.

"They made 15 so it was good to make one back," said Sullivan, who finished with 13 points.

Junior Joe Musial then demonstrated why he is nicknamed "Jet." The speedy guard drove through the Batavia defense for a layup and a 74-71 lead with 2:50 remaining.

After a Batavia missed shot and defensive rebound by Saints senior Aidan Sullivan, Musial scored in transition to make it a 5-point game with 1:03 to play.

"There were some lapses defensively that we had that I think each one of our guys would say can't happen," Batavia coach Jim Nazos said. "I know there are a million possessions in the game, but we're in February and we have to get better at that."

St. Charles East (20-7, 10-2) had its 10-game win streak snapped last Friday by St. Charles North, but 37 bench points helped the Saints bounce back.

"I felt like we kind of stole one on our home court, which is good," St. Charles East coach Pat Woods said. "I feel part of that is our guys didn't give up. We made some adjustments defensively, cut down the court a little as far as the trapping. And we got the rebounds that we weren't getting the whole game. I thought that was huge."

Batavia (14-13, 4-8) had a chance to tie after Musial split two free throws with 17.8 seconds to play. However, a 3-point attempt by sophomore Kyle Neibch did not fall. Otherwise, Neibch made 7 of 13 3-point attempts and led all scorers with 25 points.

Musial missed both ends of the super bonus with 3.9 seconds left and Batavia got the rebound, but a contested final shot from beyond midcourt fell far short.

The Saints won a game they trailed by 12 points late in the first half. They forced 21 turnovers to offset a 30-19 rebounding deficiency.

"It's really important," Musial said of the comeback. "It shows we're not going to give up no matter what the score is."

Senior Chase Monkemeyer scored 9 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter and led the Saints with 7 rebounds. Senior Thomas Ditsworth added 12 points.

Batavia senior Devin Cheaney contributed 18 points, and half his 10 rebounds were on the offensive glass. Senior Jayden Johnson scored 15 points and made three 3-pointers.

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