BATAVIA — Wilmington’s offense went stale and Batavia’s Conner McElfresh went for 22 in an unattractive BHS 46-30 home victory Friday night.
The Hurricane’s losing streak extends to eight games and dates back to early December. Their record now stands at 3-9 overall, 2-4 in the SBAAC, with a league game at Clinton-Massie next Friday. Tomorrow they’ll play 10-2 Columbus South High School, of the Columbus City League, at Ohio Dominican University in the second annual “Battle In The 614,” a central Ohio-based showcase.
Batavia busts a nine-game losing streak and its overall record goes to 3-10. The victory is their first in the SBAAC on the season, putting that record at 1-5. They travel down to Cincinnati Hughes Tuesday for a non-conference matchup.
Batavia had a two-point, 17-15 lead after two quarters of physical basketball. The half featured 18 fouls, 11 of which were in the first quarter.
The Bulldogs, specifically and mostly McElfresh, came out of the intermission firing, individually scoring 12 of the team’s 16 points in the frame. Thanks to a Jess Roller tip-in, they entered the fourth quarter with a seemingly insurmountable 33-23 lead.
“Hats off to Batavia. Those guys played really well today. That third quarter, Batavia went on a nice run. And [Conner McElfresh], he played really well. That young man had a heck of a game tonight,” WHS head coach Jermaine Isaac said.
The final frame featured an enthusiastic, unfazed WHS bench. They sat behind seven, eight points numerous times and couldn’t get a shot or momentum to fall in their favor. They left BHS’ Logan Brose alone at the top of the key on a fastbreak and he drained a three, putting the Bulldogs up 42-27. They closed out the game from there.
Isaac continued, “We’re playing a lot of young guys right now. These guys are just playing hard, they’re learning on the fly with some of our stuff and we were put in situations we didn’t expect to be in tonight and the rest of the season as well. I’m really happy with the effort that our guys have been giving, the intensity that our guys have been playing with.”
The Hurricane struggled to get a bucket all night, failing to record a double-digit scoring quarter. Freshman Stevie Rickman led Wilmington with seven points, all of which came in the first half, while Alex Lazic and Mikey Brown Jr. recorded five.
“We just have to find more ways to score, for the most part. I think that’s what it was for us. We just didn’t have enough offense and our guys played hard enough and got through it. Little Stevie [Rickman] did his thing, he had a couple quarters for us, gave us a lift, and honestly kept us in it in the first half,” Isaac said.
Wilmington is faced with playing the rest of the season without top scorers Luke Blessing (14 points per game) and Shane Griffith (13 points per game), both of whom are no longer on the team.
The JV Hurricane lost a tight one to the reserve Bulldogs, 29-28. WHS had the ball in front of their own bench, down one, with 12 seconds on clock. Chase Fickert received the ball, drove to the rim and threw up an acrobatic layup that did not fall. He had seven points in the game, while Aven Patel led the ‘Cane with nine.
SUMMARY
Jan 13, 2023
@Batavia High School
Batavia 46, Wilmington 30
B^8^9^16^13^^46
W^6^9^8^7^^30
(30) WILMINGTON (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Brown 3-0-0-6 Morales 0-0-2-2 Camp 0-0-0-0 Platt 2-0-0-4 Lazic 1-0-3-5 Patel 0-0-0-0 Achtermann 2-0-0-4 Rickman 1-1-4-7 Fickert 1-0-0-2 Jackson 0-0-0-0 TOTALS 10-1-9/16-30
(46) BATAVIA (fg-3fg-ft-tp) McElfresh 8-3-3-22 Roller 3-0-5-10 Taylor 1-0-1-3 Brose 1-1-0-3 Conner 3-0-0-6 Mehlman 0-0-0-0 Embry 0-0-2-2 Harris 0-0-0-0 Bell 0-0-0-0 TOTALS 16-4-11/17-46
REBOUNDS: W-20 (Lazic 5 Platt 4 Brown 3 Fickert 2 Rickman 1 Achtermann 1 Camp 1 Morales 1)
ASSISTS: W-7 (Lazic 2 Brown 1 Morales 1 Camp 1 Platt 1 Fickert 1)
STEALS: W-8 (Brown 3 Rickman 2 Camp 1 Lazic 1 Achtermann 1)
BLOCKS: W-1 (Lazic 1)
TURNOVERS: W-12
