Devils struggle early and often offensively, fail to crack forty points
| BataviasBest.org
Monday, March 9, 2015
The story of yesterdays Class A2 Title game at Blue Cross Arena in Rochester was simple: turnovers. Finishing with 18 total on the day vs SOTA, the Blue Devils never gave themselves a chance.
To start things off on Sunday, the Silverhawks’ Christian Simmons was able to spark his team’s offense with an early layup which gave them a 2-0 lead just about a minute in. Immediately answering for Batavia, however, was Jerrett Laskett who tied the game for the Blue Devils at the 6:30 mark of the first quarter.
On SOTA’s ensuing possession they would fail to score and Batavia’s Malachi Chenault was able to come down on the other end and draw a foul, which put him at the line for two shots and a chance to take the early advantage. Making one of two, he indeed gave the Devils the lead at 3-2.
The next few minutes would pass by without a bucket from either side, but with 3:30 left in the frame, Christian Simmons nailed a three-ball for SOTA which vaulted them back ahead 5-3. Minutes later though, after a few missed layups from each side, Laskett again came up big for his team with a three-pointer which put them back in the lead at 6-5 with 1:40 to go until the break.
After the three from the Senior, SOTA would go on to score the next six points of the quarter in order to take an 11–6 lead with under a minute on the clock. With twenty seconds left, though, Jeff Redband finally got things going with a three from the corner – which cut the Silverhawks’ lead to 11-9 going into the second quarter.
The first frame was one to forget for Batavia, but little did they know, their level of play would remain stagnant for much of the game.
Beginning the second quarter with possession was SOTA, who immediately got a three-pointer from Sergio Alicea to increase their lead back to five points.
Throughout the next seven and a half minutes, Batavia’s play would be marred by an abundance of turnovers (many unforced), a plethora of missed shots, and just poor overall-execution of whatever it was that they were trying to do.
Going into halftime, Batavia had scored under twenty points and trailed SOTA 26-18.
To break things down, throughout the first two quarters, Batavia had already committed 10 turnovers, which led to them taking about ten fewer shots than the Silverhawks, which in turn led to the eight point deficit.
In addition, something that surprised me was that Batavia had shot a reasonable 46% on field goal attempts (against SOTA’s 37%) during the first half, but with so many missed opportunities it was no surprise they were entering the final sixteen minutes facing a reasonably-large deficit.
To begin the second half, however, Batavia seemed to come out as a different team.
Starting things off with a deep two-pointer was Redband – which cut the deficit to 26-20. Following the big shot, a few more minutes would pass and the Devils would continue to chip away at the lead (primarily behind a strong defensive effort), and with about three minutes to go in the frame they eventually gained the advantage at 27-26.
Despite the Devils’ brief run, though, the Silverhawks were able to answer immediately on the other end in order to regained their lead, as a banked-in three from the corner (what?) pushed them ahead 29-27 with under a minute to go until the fourth. Following the clutch (and perhaps a bit lucky) shot, Alicea would also connect from long range – this time from the wing – and the lead was back at five just like that.
As the third quarter buzzer sounded, the score sat at 32-27 with eight minutes remaining for the Blue Devils to finally get their act together.
Unfortunately for them, though, it just didn’t seem to be their night.
Over the first three minutes of the fourth quarter the Silverhawks’ continued to control every aspect of the game, and with 5:09 left to go they had jumped ahead by ten points. But despite things seeming incredibly bleak for Batavia, they found it within themselves to mount one last run (with Redband doing all of the scoring).
However, it turned out to be all for naught as SOTA’s Alicea banged a three with under a minute to go – giving his team a seven-point lead, and effectively sealing the deal.
When it was all said and done, Batavia had lost the game 45-36 – failing to crack the forty point barrier for the first time all season.
The performance from the Blue Devils on Sunday was shocking to say the least.
Although they had benefited from a fairly-easy league schedule this season (which may have skewed their record a bit), and had not played a clean game during the semis against College Prep, Batavia is not as bad of a team as they showed last night.
Whether it was their inability to execute simple offensive principles early-on, or their failure to make simple passes late in the game, everything seemed to go wrong for this team from the opening tap – with no one there to stop the bleeding.
However, accumulating an incredible record over the course of the season on their way to the #1 seed in Class A2, this one awful performance should not erase what they have accomplished over the entirety of the year. Overall, if you’re a Batavia fan, this is a team you should be proud of.
Congratulations to Batavia on a fantastic season!!
STATS
Redband (Batavia) – 20 points
Chenault (Batavia) – 6 points
Laskett (Batavia) – 5 points
Alicea (SOTA) – 14 points
Simmons (SOTA) – 12 points
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Notre Dame Boys’ season ends with gut-wrenching OT loss to Genesee Valley in Class D1 Finals
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