Down two starters, the Batavia Bulldogs still found a way to win against Felicity on Thursday, December 20, picking up a 58-47 win over Felicity.
Batavia’s defense set the tone early. The Bulldogs allowed just six points in the first quarter, propelling the team to a 14-6 lead after one.
Felicity picked things up a little bit more in the second period, but still trailed 30-20 at halftime. Head coach Jason Thompson said the team simply didn’t execute in the first half, which doomed them in the second.
“We don’t make our free throws early in the game, and we don’t make layups early in the game, those things come back to haunt you late,” Thompson said. “You can’t wait until the second half to start playing. They run the out of bounds play, I tell the guy don’t guard the ball out of bounds and they do it anyway. Mental errors.”
Turnovers also were a problem for Felicity in the game. Thompson credited those to a combination of his team’s youth and Batavia’s style of defense.
“They apply a lot of pressure,” Brose said. “[Corbin] Richardson’s a very good player. He gets after it. He’s a ball hound, he knows how to play. Our kids are really young. They’re learning how to play. Carson Crozier’s only a freshman, [Garrett] Taulbee’s only a freshman. [Colton] Stamper’s only a sophomore. Those are three players that play the most minutes. When your players that play the most minutes and give you the most production are so young, you’re going to have nights like this.”
The Bulldogs spent parts of the game in a full-court press, hoping to force turnovers. Head coach Aaron Brose said the team has attempted to do that throughout the season and it hasn’t always worked.
“We thought that’s what we could do,” Brose said. “We’ve tried to do that all year a little bit, but we’ve been overplaying our assignments and things like that so it gives people easy looks. I think tonight we did a better job at being patient but aggressive.”
Batavia scored 18 points in the third quarter, while Felicity tallied 13. The final two points of the period came on a lob with less than five seconds on the clock. Brose said the Bulldogs executed the play well.
“With two seconds left, typically I thought we had enough time to get a good shot,” Brose said. “With the way they were coming up on our guards, I thought we might be able to get something there. Two guys finally set a screen, did a great job screening somebody, and then we got Jeff [Shepherd] wide open.”
Outside of the one play at the end of the period, Brose said he felt the Bulldogs played well offensively, despite not having Kaleb Moell and Nate Watson available.
“Good at times, a little erratic,” Brose said. “I thought there were stretches where we moved the ball better than we have the last couple games, I thought there were stretches where we rebounded really well. I thought we were very aggressive. I thought we were a little loose with the ball at times, but overall, we’ve lost five in a row, it was good to come out with the win.”
Brose said other players on the team stepped in to fill the void left by Moell and Watson.
“Shepherd stepped up tonight big time,” Brose said. “He rebounded in the first quarter, we played real well defensively. I thought he did a nice job in Kaleb’s absence.”
Shepherd led Batavia with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Willia Burns added 7 points and 6 boards. Bryce Zenni tallied 9 points.
For Felicity, Crozier led the Cardinals with 17 points. Joey Glassmeyer tallied 8 points, but also collected 4 fouls. Thompson said Glassmeyer is a huge contributor, when he’s able to stay on the court.
“He’s been playing well,” Thompson said. “He’s not inconsistent, him being in foul trouble is what makes him look like he’s inconsistent. When he plays 20, 25 minutes, he has 18-20 points and 10-12 rebounds. When he plays 15-20 minutes, he has 8 points and 8 rebounds. His production per minute is probably as good as anyone in the league. Foul trouble haunts him.”
Stamper tallied seven points for Felicity, while Bryce Reeves added 6. That duo and the rest of their Felicity teammates are off until January 4, when the team travels to Williamsburg.
Batavia returns to the court on Friday, December 28 for the Holiday Hoops Classic at Clermont Northeastern. The game is scheduled to begin at approximately 5:30 p.m.