Batavia downs cold shooting Albion

Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Albion’s Kory Reynolds (22) grabs a rebound away from Batavia’s duo of Jerrett Laskett (1) and Trevor Sherwood (14) during the Purple Eagles tournament loss to the Blue Devils this evening at Genesee Community College.

A l-o-n-g scoring drought proved costly as Albion dropped a 68-31 decision to Batavia this evening in the consolation game of the Batavia Lions Club Tournament at Genesee Community College.

Trailing by just three at 26-23 with three minutes to go in the second quarter, Albion was outscored 29-3 from that point until a minute into the final period as Batavia raced away to a commanding 55-26 advantage.

Jeff Redband spearheaded the Batavia attack with 29 points, including 19 in the opening half. Jerrett Laskett also netted 10 of his 13 in the opening half for the Blue Devils.

Des Blackmon and Austin Loyd both scored 10 for Albion as Clayton Stanton added 4, Alex Bison 3, Gary Moore and Evan Pappalardo 2 each.

Albion did get off to a quick start as a layup by Stanton followed by a fast break layup and a three by Blackmon gave the Purple Eagles a 7-2 lead at the outset.

However, Batavia answered with a 16-3 run capped off by back-to-back threes by Redband and Laskett, to move into the lead for good at 18-10. Redband had a total of 11 points and Laskett 7 in the opening stanza which finished with the Blue Devils up 20-14.

Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Albion’s Des Blackmon (21) drives against Batavia’s Pat Wrobel.

A four- point play followed by two free throws, all by Redband, quickly boosted the Batavia lead to 12, 26-14, at the outset of the second period.

Albion though came battling back as two threes by Loyd and one by Blackmon sliced the deficit to only three at 26-23 but the Purple Eagles could get no closer.

Batavia answered that challenged with a 9-3 run to close the half and move back out to a 35-26 advantage at the break.

Keeping the momentum, Batavia then outscored Albion 15-0 in the decisive third period, highlighted by threes by Redband and Laskett, to race away to a 24 point, 50-26, advantage at the three-quarter mark.

Albion, in fact, went 0 for 10 from the field with 7 turnovers in the disastrous third period.

A three by Loyd a minute in to the final period finally ended Albion’s 10 minute plus scoring drought.

Batavia capped off the lopsided win by outscoring Albion 18-5 in the final stanza as the Purple Eagles made good on just 2 of 16 field goal attempts down the stretch.

The loss drops Albion to 2-4.