Batavia’s Bryant sinks trey in final seconds for win

Published in the Kane County Chronicle on
December 28th, 2007

Batavia’s Bryant sinks trey in final seconds for win
By KEVIN JENISON - editorial@kcchronicle.com
Comments (No comments posted.)-->ELGIN – With 1.5 seconds remaining, Batavia’s David Bryant provided a dramatic flourish to cap off Day 2 at the Elgin Holiday Tournament.Down two against host Elgin, Bryant took a Phil Albrecht kickout pass and in a single swish put a night of shooting woes behind him with a game-winning three-pointer Thursday as the Bulldogs won, 51-49.Batavia faces Buffalo Grove at 8 p.m. today in the semifinals.“I was struggling during the game, but I got a good look and hit it,” said Bryant, who finished with 10 points. “[Elgin is a] physical team, but we played through it and won it in the end.”A tight game throughout, Elgin used a 5-0 run in the second quarter to push the Maroons ahead, 25-20. Batavia coach Jim Roberts called a timeout with 2:34 left in the quarter to stop the run and to settle his squad.It seemed to work as the Bulldogs (10-2) climbed back, tying the game at 27-all heading into the half on a Jordan Smith jumper.The game headed into the fourth tied at 39-all, with Batavia seemingly tiring.But the Bulldogs stayed close as Bryant hit a jumper to give cut the Elgin lead to 49-48. With 13.7 seconds left, Elgin’s Kenny Williams went to the free-throw line after being fouled, but missed the front end of a one-and-one situation.The Bulldogs grabbed the rebound to set up Bryant’s late-game heroics.Following Bryant’s last-second three, Elgin attempted a downcourt pass for a last-second shot of its own, but it was taken away by Jordan Smith to end the game and seal the Batavia victory.“We fought through some tough stretches of the game when not much was going right and our kids didn’t panic,” Roberts said.“Defensively we didn’t play too bad, and that’s what kept us in.”Batavia and Elgin were mirror images of one another throughout the entire game. Both started out slow and took time to build an offensive attack.The Bulldogs did a solid job early in slowing down Elgin standout Armani Williams, limiting him to only three points in the first quarter.Phil Albrecht, meanwhile, scored nine in the first half on his way to team-high scoring honors of 16, which he shared with Smith. Williams picked up his game in the second half to boost the Elgin offense and end with a game-high 18 points.