Marshall vs. Batavia

Marshall outlast Batavia

By: Adam Blair

Coming into the game between Chicago Marshall and Batavia, the size match up was certainly in the favor of Marshall. That didn’t stop Nick Freundt led Batavia from giving it there all against a powerful city team in Ryan Hare led Marshall.

“They have quick feet and hops,” said Freundt. “There on ball defense is really good, they have quick hands.”
Darius Smith led Marshall with a game high 18 points, as he helped Marshall pull out a 56-55 win over No. 8 Batavia.

“Suburb teams tend to slow the game down and make you play 30-40 seconds of defense,” said Marshall head coach Courtney Hargrays. “Playing city teams we might only play 10-15 seconds of defense.”
Going into the final period Batavia trailed by just 2 points.

With 5 minutes to go in the game Freundt hit a 2-point bucket and was fouled on the shot, in which he nailed the foul shot to tie the game at 44 all.It all seemed to go down hill from there as Marshall led by as much as 6 point in the final minutes led by the play of Smith and Davaris Davis who added 9 points.
It looked that way even more so when Batavia star Freundt who scored a team high 16 points fouled out in the final 2 minutes of the game.

“I think he is a very good player,” said Hare of Freundt. “I’ve seen him play before and he just attacks.”
But that didn’t stop Batavia from attempting a comeback. David Bryant hit a 3-pointer with 55 seconds left to play to cut the Marshall lead to just 2 at 53-51. Then Davis of Marshall streaked down the court and hit a lay-up to push the margin back up to 4 at 55-51.

Ricky Clopton of Batavia hit one free throw with 12.5 seconds left to play to make it 55-52. That when Davis got fouled and went to the line and had a chance to clinch the game with two free throws. His first attempt hit back iron and fell off the rim still keeping Batavia alive. But he hit the next one to give Marshall a 4-point cushion.

Phil Albrecht drained a 3 pointer for Batavia at the buzzer to make the final.

“We have started playing really well the past few weeks,” said Hargrays. “We have stopped making little mistakes.”