Stay Connected with YourSeason
Boys Basketball: Sutton sparks Neuqua Valley to victory
| Andrew A. Nelles~For Sun-Times Media |
Updated: December 22, 2011 9:23PM
Many teams would be happy to be playing for third place at a solid, 16-team tournament like the Elgin Holiday Tournament.
But considering the fact that Neuqua Valley’s boys basketball team felt it let a golden opportunity go in the semifinals against Elgin Wednesday, the third-place game Thursday against Batavia wasn’t exactly where they wanted to be.
“You know what, we controlled that game for three and a half quarters last night, we are not happy,” Neuqua coach Todd Sutton said. “We wanted to play the team from Indiana (La Lumiere). Win, lose or draw, we wanted to be there and take our chances against a great team.”
That meant Thursday’s game against Batavia could have the potential for a letdown for Neuqua, but the Wildcats never let that happen.
Tyler Sutton hit one of his six three-pointers to start the second quarter to give Neuqua the lead and they held the Bulldogs at arm’s length the rest of the way, eventually posting a 66-54 win.
“This could have been a hangover game,” Tyler Sutton said. “We could have come in with low morale. This is a heck of a win.”
Batavia (4-7) may have never led again after holding a 13-11 lead to start the second quarter, but the Bulldogs never let Neuqua (8-6) pull away completely. After a three-point play from Mike Rueffer in the third, the Neuqua lead was 35-32.
But as was the case all night, well-placed Tyler Sutton three-pointers kept Neuqua in the lead. His three-pointer after Rueffer’s three-point play sparked a 13-4 run that pushed the lead to 48-36 to start the fourth quarter. When Batavia cut the lead to 10 and nine in the fourth quarter, it was Sutton that drilled a three-pointer to thwart each rally.
He wound up leading all scorers with 18 points, one of four Wildcats in double figures. Jabari Sandifer (15), Peter Catchings (12) and Pat Kenny (10) were the others.
“When they’re making a run, I feel like I need to stop it, whatever I need to do,” Tyler Sutton said. “I’m a captain, and I need to make big shots.”
A big point of emphasis for Neuqua was slowing Batavia senior Cole Gardner. He still posted 17 points and 11 rebounds, but Neuqua held him to 7-for-18 shooting from the field and made it a point to make his life difficult down low.
It was an up-and-down week for Batavia. The Bulldogs rallied from a huge deficit Monday to beat Rockford East and followed that with a win over Buffalo Grove before ending with two straight losses and a fourth-place finish.
“I was proud of our kids,” Batavia coach Jim Roberts said. “But it was disappointing that we didn’t come out with a little more passion than we did tonight. Hopefully we’ll get better with that.”
© 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.
Cell Phone Alerts
Comments Click here to view or make a comment