Batavia coach Aaron Brose guides his team from the sideline during Saturday’s Division III district tournament game vs. Northwest at Princeton. Photo by Dick Maloney, Sun Sports Correspondent.
Batavia junior Logan Roller prepares to make a move on the low blocks vs. Northwest. Photo by Dick Maloney, Sun Sports Correspondent.
SHARONVILLE — They fought through injuries, they fought through frustrations, but Batavia High School’s boys basketball team couldn’t fight through a taller, more athletic Northwest front line Feb. 22 in a Division III district tournament game at Princeton High School.
The Knights eliminated the Bulldogs, 74-49, building a lead of more than 30 points in the second half. Batavia trailed 21-6 after the first quarter and cut the deficit to 10 halfway through the second, but Northwest closed on a 10-1 run, and the game was never in doubt for the final 16 minutes.
Junior Brett McKeon led Batavia with 19 points and six rebounds; he scored 11 of the Bulldogs’ 16 points in the first half.
Batavia head coach Aaron Brose said early missed chances around the rim discouraged his team.
“I thought we got a lot of things we worked on all week in practice. We just couldn’t seem to finish it, and we did get a little bit down after that,” Brose said. “We kept battling, we kept fighting. We just, we just couldn’t seem to get over that hump.”
The defeat was the final appearance in a Batavia uniform for seniors Max Mehlman and Derek Richardson. Mehlman averaged 7.2 points and 6.8 rebounds per game; Richardson averaged 1.5 ppg and 1.9 rpg. Brose noted their leadership.
“We had a lot of things … over the course of the season that didn’t go exactly as we wanted to, but we didn’t hang our heads, and we didn’t pout. We just kept plugging. We just came back to practice the next day, we’re going to get better,” Brose said. “And those seniors said, ‘All right, these guys are out. Let’s bring these other guys along.’ And they really worked. It really gave us the leadership that you want on the guys, especially when you’re 17-, 18-years-old, to say, ‘Hey guys, we still have our goal, all of our goals, in front of us. Let’s keep working. Let’s keep running.’”
Assuming everyone eligible to return does so, Batavia will have its top three scorers back in 2025-26 — McKeon (12.5 ppg), junior Carson Harris (11.3, missed the last eight games) and junior Ryan Brose (9.2). Another junior, Carter Cope, missed the entire season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament.
While reluctant to look too far ahead, Aaron Brose said Batavia should have a good core group next season.
“I like what we have coming back. We have a good group coming back, some excitement there among these guys,” Aaron Brose said. “And our seniors this year taught them how to do it the right way.”
He also hopes his players take advantage of open gyms during the offseason, noting that an increase in the number of players in the program makes those open gyms more competitive.
Batavia finished the season 13-8 overall and 8-2 in the Southern Buckeye Athletic and Academic Conference American Division. The Bulldogs were a game behind Goshen, which they split the season series against. Brose’s team won nine in a row from Dec. 20, 2024, through Feb. 1 but then lost four of its last five.
Batavia statistics vs. Northwest: Brett McKeon 19 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal; Caleb Tobias 11-2-2-1; Joh McKeon 6-1-1-0; Logan Roller 6-4-0-0; Jaylin Gardner 4-3-0-0; Griffin Childress 2-2-0-1; Derek Richardson 1-1-10; Ryan Brose 0-1-3-2; Bryce Eads 0-0-0-1; Max Mehlman 0-2-3-0; Joey Hargis 0-0-0-1.