BATAVIA — In a game that went back and forth all night, Wilmington’s hopes of snapping Batavia’s undefeated streak came up seven points short, as the Hurricane was defeated by the Bulldogs, 60-53 Friday night.
Batavia is now 10-0 overall and 4-0 in the SBAAC American Division. Wilmington falls to 4-7 overall and 1-3 in the conference.
After a sluggish start which saw the Hurricane fall behind 8-1, Wilmington began its comeback and trailed 13-11 at the quarter break. The teams battled to a 27-27 standoff at halftime.
Batavia got the upper hand late in the third period after Wilmington knotted the score at 41-all. Batavia held a 50-43 lead after three periods
It was a very physical game with the teams combining for 36 personal fouls. Unfortunately for the Hurricane, Batavia cashed in repeatedly at the line, converting 22 of 29 attempts. Wilmington managed just 10 free throws and converted on only four of them. In the final period the Bulldogs connected on 10 of 14 chances at the charity stripe.
Wilmington head coach Matt Kramer was frustrated with the disparity at the line, but did not blame the officiating, just the margin.
“It’s tough to win a game when its a 29-10 difference,” he said. “We did not make our opportunities when we got there. We are still growing, but starting to come together. Even after we fell behind, we made a late charge at them, but could not overtake them.”
Brady Vilvens, who finished with 14 points, pulled the ‘Cane within a single point 51-50 with just under a minute remaining. Matt Butcher had 15 in the game including 10 in the third period.
Before fouling out of the contest, Luke Blessing added 15.
For the Bulldogs, high scorer was Mason Weisbrodt with 22, 11 in each half.
Kramer felt his team was very resilient, saying they grabbed the rope and squeezed it harder tonight instead of letting it slip away.
“I feel our day is coming, and to stay with them, an unbeaten team, shows just how far we have come,” he said.
SUMMARY
Jan 15, 2021
@Batavia High School
Batavia 60 Wilmington 53
W^11^16^16^10^^53
B^13^14^23^10^^60
(53) WILMINGTON (2fg-3fg-ft-tp) Butcher 2-3-2-14, Glass 0-0-0-0, Vilvens 4-2-0-14, Bernhardt 0-0-0-0, Blessing 4-2-1-15, Baltazar 2-0-0-4, France 2-0-0-4,Brown 0-0-1-1, Barker 0-0-0-0, Miller 0-0-0-0. TOTALS 14-7-4-53.
(60) BATAVIA (2fg-3fg-ft-tp) Gardner 2-0-0-4, Kongo 1-1-2-7, Stewart 1-0-0-2, Applegate 1-0-6-8, Heckard 0-0-2-2, Lisk 1-0-1-3, Wiscome 2-0-4-10, Weisbrodt 8-1-7-22. TOTALS 16-2-22-60.
