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Boys Basketball: Batavia Night of Hoops roundup
Mary Beth Nolan~For Sun-Times Media
Updated: February 5, 2012 12:16AM
Benet 39, Wheaton North 35
When Benet’s boys basketball team jumped out to a quick 8-0 lead in Saturday’s matchup with Wheaton North at Batavia’s Night of Hoops, it looked like the Redwings were about to roll.
But Wheaton North had other ideas.
The Falcons made a game out of it, tying the game going into the fourth quarter, before Benet was able to pull out a rugged, 39-35 win.
“Defense was the key to the game,” Benet coach Gene Heidkamp said. “We didn’t play well on offense, but we played good defense. Some days, the ball is not going to fall and you’re going to struggle to score. We didn’t shoot well from the perimeter (3-for-11 from three-point range), but you’re going to have games like that.”
Early on, sophomore center Sean O’Mara had his way down low against 6-foot-11 Wheaton North center Andrew Zelis, scoring six points and forcing Zelis to the bench while the Redwings (16-5) built their 8-0 lead. But Benet didn’t score again for nearly six minutes as Wheaton North (5-15) climbed back into the game.
A 10-0 Wheaton North run stretched into the second quarter and wasn’t stopped until Griffin Hanekamp’s three-pointer with 6:14 left in the second for Benet. Hanekamp hit another three and O’Mara scored six points as Benet sliced the Wheaton North lead to 22-20 after a quarter.
“The lead that we got at the start of the game was kind of irrelevant because we didn’t keep it up on the defensive end,” O’Mara said. “We started the game off well, but the rest of the game, the offense slowed down and we stopped playing defense like we needed to.”
Scoring remained hard to come by the rest of the game, as well. Pat McInerney needed to drill a three-pointer from half court at the third-quarter buzzer to tie the game at 30-30 going into the final quarter.
Benet was able to pick up the defense down the stretch, however. The Redwings held Wheaton North scoreless for nearly six minutes as Benet took a 36-30 lead. Wheaton North’s Sam Otto made things interesting with 1:08 left, hitting a three-pointer to cut the lead to 38-35, but the Falcons never scored again.
O’Mara finished the game with 16 points, seven rebounds and two blocked shots to pace the Redwings.
“Sean had a good team,” Heidkamp said. “There were times I thought we needed to work it in there a little bit more.”
Peoria Central 68, St. Joseph 65
St. Joseph’s boys basketball team seemed poised to spring an upset on Peoria Central with four minutes left Saturday at Batavia’s Night of Hoops.
The Chargers took a six-point lead at that point. But Peoria Central closed out with a flourish, putting together a 15-2 run as the Lions pulled away for a 68-65 win.
St. Joseph senior Avery Harmon hit a couple of late three pointers to make the margin closer, but Peoria Central dominated down the stretch as St. Joseph fell to 14-8 on the season. Peoria Central, regarded as perhaps the best downstate team in Illinois, improved to 18-2.
“We did a fair job on the rebounds, but we weren’t blocking out on the back side and they were getting too many put-backs,” St. Joseph coach Gene Pingatore said. “That’s what killed us.”
Peoria’s late run was fueled by the Lions’ lone three-pointer of the game, from Aldonis Foote, three layups and 10 free throws as St. Joseph struggled with Peoria Central’s pressure defense.
Though the Chargers turned the ball over only 14 times, it seemed like a lot more to Pingatore due to the Lions’ pressure.
“Maybe it seemed like more because we turned it over in crucial situations,” Pingatore said. “Even though we didn’t turn it over, pressure is not meant to just steal the ball. Pressure forces teams to take shots that aren’t there and I thought we took some bad shots.”
St. Joseph also appeared to have some momentum in the second quarter. Already holding a three-point lead, Peoria Central coach Dan Ruffin was hit with a pair of technical fouls and ejected. Paul Turner hit three of the four free throws, but the Chargers weren’t able to extend the lead, taking a 25-22 lead into the break.
“It put the momentum to us,” Pingatore said. “It would have been nice if we would have capitalized with a bucket.”
Karriem Simmons paced the Chargers with 18 points. Turner added 17 and Reggie Johnson scored 12. Peoria Central’s Kevin Jordan led all scorers with 20 points. Trey Kellum added 14 for the Lions.
West Aurora 53, Batavia 44
Coming off the high of Friday’s big DuPage Valley Conference win over Glenbard North, West Aurora’s boys basketball team found Saturday’s game against Batavia at the Bulldogs’ Night of Hoops more of a grind.
Batavia hung in there against the Blackhawks most of the night before West Aurora finally pulled away for a 53-44 win to improve to 18-3. Batavia fell to 4-16, dropping its 11th game in a row.
“They played harder than we did,” West coach Gordie Kerkman said. “That caused a lot of problems. I told them that they probably would. I’ve been to Night of Hoops for a few years, and these guys really play hard.”
Early on, it looked like West was in line for another runaway win. A 10-0 run staked the Blackhawks to a 12-5 lead, and star senior Juwan Starks scored five quick points. But Batavia stuck around, thanks in large part to the three-point shooting of sophomore Micah Coffey and the interior points of senior Cole Gardner.
They combined for all 17 of Batavia’s first-half points, as West went into the break with a 24-17 lead. West extended the lead to 11 twice in the third quarter — once on a three-pointer from Chandler Thomas — who scored a team-high 12 points, and again on Brandon Gossett’s driving layup. But once again, Batavia hung in. Two more three-pointers from Coffey, who scored a game-high 15 points, helped Batavia cut the lead to 32-31 in the final minute of the third.
“Quite honestly, I think we took them a little too lightly with their record,” Thomas said. “We just needed to come out and not think about that and just play this game, and I don’t think we did that.”
Josh McAuley scored six quick points to start the fourth quarter to give West a bit of a cushion, 42-35. Then the Blackhawks, who struggled from the free-throw line early, started to heat up down the stretch. At one point, they hit 8-of-8 from the line as a team and Batavia never threatened again.
Starks was held to 11 points for West after his hot start.
“He’s going to have to get used to people hanging on him and be a little more patient,” Kerkman said.
Gardner scored nine points before fouling out, but was a challenging matchup down low all night for West.
“I thought about guarding (Nick) Czarnowski a couple of weeks ago against Naperville Central,” Thomas said. “I tried to play him as best I could. He’s a bigger guy. I give him a lot of credit. I just tried to muscle up on him like I usually do with guys like that.”
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