Sports Editor
The first 31.5 minutes of Batavia’s non-league contest against Blanchester on Tuesday, January 8 were solid, if not spectacular. The last 4.5 were bananas.
Blanchester rallied from a five-point deficit in the final 12 seconds of the fourth quarter to force overtime, only to fall to the Bulldogs 52-51 on a buzzer-beating basket by Owen Wiscombe.
Let’s start with the first 31.5 minutes of action. Batavia trailed 11-10 after one period, with Brayden Sipple scoring 10 of Blanchester’s first-quarter points. He finished with 15 in the half and 33 in the game, but Batavia head coach Aaron Brose said he felt Jason Griffin and Corbin Richardson did a decent job guarding Sipple defensively.
“It’s a tough matchup for anybody, but they both did a good job knowing where they were supposed to be, getting to where they were supposed to be,” Brose said. “You’re not going to stop a guy like him, but if you can make things hard for him, challenge him, make him work for it, it helps out.”
Batavia’s defense stepped up in the second quarter, holding Blanchester to just eight points. Brose said the Bulldogs did some good things defensively.
“I thought we did a good job executing what we tried to do,” Brose said. “They’re a good team. We tried to take some things away, and there were some things we were able to take away and some things we weren’t. On the offensive end, we did a better job of not turning the ball over, which has been a problem for us over the last five or six games. I think tonight we had eight turnovers, we were at 16-18, which in a game that’s a one point game, those turnovers kill you.”
In addition to the lack of turnovers, Batavia’s offense got a boost inside from William Burns. Burns scored 11 points in the first half, and seven in the second quarter alone.
“He played like a man in there tonight,” Brose said. “He didn’t mind contact, and he was getting hit in there a lot. He just kept on taking it up strong, and he got some big rebounds for us. We knew he could help us when he’s not injured. He’s just coming off that injury, and I thought he played very well.”
Burns scored eight more points in the fourth quarter, but Sipple went nuclear in the frame to get Blanchester back in the game. The sophomore scored 13 points in the period, and at one point caused a seven-point swing on his own by scoring five straight points and blocking a Batavia shot.
Batavia had a chance to win the game in regulation, but Burns’ shot at the buzzer got stuck between the rim and the backboard.
Brose summed up the final few seconds of the fourth quarter in two words.
“Not ideal,” Brose said. “Credit to our kids. They tied it, they had all the momentum going in overtime. Then they get that dunk and we battled back, stayed with it, and we finished. I’m pretty happy about our mental toughness there.”
In the overtime period, Blanchester grabbed all the early momentum, starting with the fast-break dunk by Sipple. He then hit a pair of foul shots, one of which came on Burns’ final foul of the night.
Nonetheless, Batavia fought back, pulling within one point with 48.4 seconds left. The Bulldogs forced a turnover, then nearly turned the ball over themselves. Brose called timeout to keep possession, and to give his team one last chance.
“I told them we were going to get a great look,” Brose said. “I told them we were going to get the last shot of the game, no matter what happens. First one goes up, let’s go pound the glass and see what we get. I thought we did a good job. In overtime we had 11 offensive rebounds, and we had four guards out there.”
The first shot came off the hands of Nate Watson. His shot went long and was rebounded by Bryce Zenni, who had it knocked away. It eventually fell to Wiscombe, who put up a floater that rolled around the rim before falling in for the game-winner.
“He worked hard,” Brose said. “He’s been working hard all year. He took his time. He got it, went up and finished, which is what we’ve been preaching all year. It was cool.”
Wiscombe finished with 10 points in the game, second on the team behind Burns’ 22. Max Applegate tallied 6 points, with Watson scoring 4. Five other Bulldogs (John Witt, Austin Hart, Zenni, Richardson and Griffin) all finished with 2 points each.
Sipple’s 33 points made him the only Wildcat in double-figures. Hunter Bare finished with 7, Ian Heeg 6 and Tanner Creager 5.
Batavia returns to action on Friday, January 11 with a Southern Buckeye Athletic and Academic Conference tilt against Clinton-Massie. The game is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m.
For a video of Wiscombe’s winning shot, check out our Facebook page. A photo gallery from the Bulldogs’ win is also available.