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Boys Basketball: Batavia edges East Aurora on a special night
| Corey R. Minkanic~For Sun-Times Media
Updated: February 18, 2012 11:18PM
Having dedicated its gym to the great Ernie Kivisto in a pregame ceremony, East Aurora honored the late coach with an intense performance against Batavia on Saturday.
The Tomcats led from the middle of the first quarter until there were less than two minutes left in the contest, but they couldn’t hold on and were nipped at the wire, 49-48.
Tyrone Savage and DeJon Talbert (game-high 22 points) caught lightning in a bottle as each player drained two shots from long range to give East a 16-12 advantage after one quarter.
After a layup by Jonathan Villezcas (10 points), Talbert knocked in two more treys and East had doubled the score at 24-12 early in the second.
“I was feeling really good,” Talbert said. “My teammates were doing a good job attacking the basket and having the defense collapse on them. I had a good shooting night.”
Talbert knocked in 4-of-6 from long range, and East was 6-of-8 shooting threes in the half.
The Bulldogs continued to try to pound the ball into 6-foot-6 Cole Gardner (16 points), and the big man scored 12 points from close range. But Batavia shot poorly in the half (9-of-29) and trailed 30-19 at the break.
“The kids responded to the special night,” East coach Wendell Jeffries said. “They were pumped and played hard.”
The Tomcats’ Tyree Willis played Gardner much tighter after the intermission and he became less of a factor, but the teams played evenly in the third quarter.
Zach Strittmatter (team-high 19 points) scored on a putback and Mike Rueffer on a shot in the lane for the Bulldogs. Talbert had yet another three-pointer and Willis had a layup to give East the lead, 41-31, after three.
It began to slip away for East as Batavia scored the first nine points of the fourth quarter. The Bulldogs applied the press, and their height advantage caused deflections and turnovers.
When Strittmatter scored from short range on an assist from Jake Pollack with 1:52 remaining, Batavia led 44-43. Talbert made two free throws to swing the lead back for East, but Strittmatter countered with a layup on a Rueffer assist.
After a Tomcat timeout with 22 seconds remaining, Willis missed a difficult shot from underneath with 11 seconds remaining which would have tied the score, and Batavia grabbed the rebound. Rueffer followed with two charity tosses for a four-point Bulldog lead.
Talbert knocked in a final trey before the buzzer, but the horn sounded and Batavia (6-17, 2-9 UEC River) had the one-point victory.
“Give credit to East Aurora. They’re a hungry team and there is no quit in them,” Batavia coach Jim Roberts said. “There is a lot of great pride instilled in them, and this building is a special place. We were very fortunate.”
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