Batavia Blue Devils boys varsity basketball had a home game against the Greece Odyssey Leopards tonight. What started as a blow out and continued that way into the fourth quarter was almost an upset loss.
In the first quarter Batavia did about anything they wanted at either end of the court, easily leading by 13 to 5. After the nice easy warm up of the first quarter, Batavia cruised through the second and led 35 to 17 at the half.
Once play started in the third,Greece’s’ John Mathis III came out scoring with 14 points, outscoring Batavia by himself. Batavia still led by 47 to 36 at the end of three quarters.
The fourth started slow for Batavia. With about four minutes remaining in the fourth, Greece had caught up to Batavia and tied the game. A few seconds later Greece was in the lead.And Batavia called a time-out. Turnovers and missed shots were causing a lot of damage to Batavia at this point in time. Greece was out rebounding them and clearly in control.
The final minute of play began with the scored tied at 53-53. Antwon Odem (16 points on the night) stepped up and drove hard into the paint with the go ahead two-pointer with 20 seconds left. After that Greece was not able to rally again. Final score: Batavia 57, Greece Odyssey 55. Other standout Batavia team members were Tee Saun Ayala with 15 and Jonathan Liciaga with 12.
