Surging Batavia tops West Aurora at Batavia's Night of Hoops

Let the record show, it's David Bryant two, West Aurora one.

Not that those are the numbers the Batavia senior cares most about.

Those come way behind a couple others, like 2-0 - the record Batavia posted this weekend by beating Western Sun Conference leader Glenbard South by 14 points Friday, then those West Aurora Blackhawks by 11 Saturday.

Bryant led the Bulldogs to a statement win at the 16th annual Night of Hoops, scoring 25 points to help Batavia post the number he cares most about, a 54-43 victory over West Aurora.

That he did it on a night his grandmother Maureen Bryant was honored and his large family was in the stands watching only made it that much sweeter.

"It was definitely special," Bryant said. "I just wanted to get the win but all my family here makes it better. We were just concentrating on the win. Everyone played good, it was a good weekend."

Batavia (14-6) has won two of its last three games over West Aurora (15-7), the school Bryant's father John and four uncles stared at, during David's four years at Batavia - even though the Bulldogs would trade those two wins for the one West Aurora got during Bryant's freshman season in the East Aurora sectional title game.

"I kind of just take it as a regular game," said Bryant, who was headed to the Turf Room with his family to celebrate. "Maybe a litle butterflires with all these people in here and getting a packed house. It was fun and everyone did a good job."

It started early with Ricky Clopton scoring inside to open the scoring. The teams were tied at 10 after one quarter, and Batavia took the lead for good on Ben Potter's 3-pointer with 5:38 left in the second quarter.

West Aurora missed all 7 of its first-half 3s and finished 2 of 17 for the game. The Blackhawks' cold shooting helped Batavia open leads of 22-16 at halftime and 36-29 after three quarters.

"We kind of knew their weakness was shooting so that kind of helps with the 2-3 (zone) collapsing in," Bryant said.

West Aurora didn't go without a fight, closing Batavia's 41-31 lead in the fourth quarter to 43-40. Markus Cocroft scored 6 of his 8 points in the quarter before fouling out.

"A player like Cocroft is the engine. He's relentless," Batavia coach Jim Roberts said. "That's a team that there is no quit in."

The Blackhawks missed two more 3-pointers that could have tied the game, then Bryant gave the Bulldogs some breathing room with a 3-pointer with 1:23 remaining on a feed from Potter. Bryant put the finishing touches on a 12-for-12 night at the free-throw line as Batavia stretched its lead in the final minute.

Potter and Clopton added 12 points for Batavia. Clopton grabbed 11 rebounds and Bryant 10, a night after Bryant had 14 rebounds against Glenbard South.

"This was a huge weekend for us," Clopton said. "On Monday we got all pumped up in practice, we came hard all week long in practice because we knew this was a big weekend for us in conference and for the rest of the season we needed to win these two games, prove we could win them. We came out and executed real well."

Jamal Blackmond led West Aurora with 12 points and freshman Juwan Starks added 11. Both players grabbed 8 rebounds.