Andrew Hoy showed the maturity that a scoring leader needs to have, and Dakota Irvin continued his hot play as the Batavia boys basketball team came back from one of the biggest deficits the team has had in years to beat host Pittsford Mendon 51-50 Wednesday night.
"This is a group that had never really been behind like that, ever," Batavia coach Buddy Brasky said. "We were down 18 points and (assistant coach) Gene Cairo said that he's been with us for five years and he can't remember a game when we were down double figures before the half. To fall behind 18 points and believe we can win; that's why we are champions. We have the heart of champions."
Mendon had actually opened up a 28-10 lead in the first half before Hoy overcame a rough first half shooting the ball and hit a 3-pointer with less than 30 seconds left in the half to get Batavia to within 15.
Batavia only scored 13 points in the first half and went just 5-of-26 from the field. The Blue Devils only hit 3-of-18 3-point attempts.
"We knew we had to live or die by the jump shot and we were dying by it today," Brasky said. "We had wide open shots and couldn't knock them down. Our defense kept us in the game."
Hoy hit two 3-pointers early in the third quarter and Batavia wound up cutting the deficit to two points with four minutes left.
But Mendon opened it back up to a 10-point edge seconds later.
Brasky had went away from the full court press, but went back to it, and it paid off as Batavia had three straight turnovers that led to six points.
Irvin scored 13 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter and is a big reason why the Blue Devils won the game.
"He's been a pleasant surprise," Brasky said. "He had a good offseason. He was playing well in the fall, but I didn't know if he'd be a starter. He earned it in the scrimmages. For him to come up so big early in the season has been a pleasent surprise."
