Bulldogs' Basketball Season Comes To An End

All season long, the Batavia boys basketball team searched for consistency.

It’s one of the underlying reasons why the Bulldogs entered Monday night’s West Aurora Class 4A regional tournament as the 15^th seed in the East Aurora sectional complex.

Unfortunately, it’s also a major reason why the Bulldogs’ 2010-11 season came to an abrupt halt.

Glenbard North (11-15) played anything like an 18^th seed, pulling away down the stretch during its 65-56 triumph over the Bulldogs (13-13).

Josh Fleming, a 6-6 junior forward, tallied 10 of his game-high 24 points in the fourth quarter to help the Panthers fight off a late challenge from the Bulldogs.

Senior guard Anthony Keener added eight of his 12 points in the final period for the Panthers, who advance to Tuesday’s regional semifinal clash with second-seeded Downers Grove South (23-3).

“Give Glenbard North credit,” Batavia Coach Jim Roberts said. “They made some big plays and beat us to a lot of loose balls.”

A Happy Start

Batavia began the game in promising fashion, taking an early 11-6 lead on the strength of two offensive-rebound baskets from Elliott Vaughn and Mike Jorgensen.

The Bulldogs still led 16-12 before momentum began to swing toward the Panthers right before the end of the opening quarter.

First, reserve forward Andrew Bergmann connected on a 3-pointer to trim the Bulldogs’ lead to 16-15. Then, with 54 seconds left in the first quarter, Batavia junior power forward Cole Gardner was forced to the bench after being whistled for his second foul.

While Gardner sat out the entire second quarter, the Panthers outscored Batavia 18-9 to grab a 33-25 halftime advantage.

Fleming was especially effective in the second quarter with seven points, while Mark Ng canned one of the Panthers’ four 3-pointers in the first half.

A Sad Finish

In the third quarter, the Bulldogs rallied to within three at 37-34 on a layup by Gardner (9 points) with 3:50 remaining. But the Panthers answered with another 3-pointer from Bergmann and a driving layup by Fleming to up their lead to 42-35 heading into the final quarter.

While Glenbard scored the first four points of the period to take a double-digit lead at 46-35, perhaps the biggest blow for the Bulldogs came when Gardner fouled out of the game with 7:41 remaining.

Batavia made one last push, as Vaughn’s layup made it 47-42 with 4:30 left. But the Panthers went on an 8-2 surge to put the game out of reach.

Playing in his final high school game, Vaughn scored 14 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to lead the Bulldogs, while senior guard Jesse Coffey, who sat out a pair of games last week with pneumonia, added 11 points.