The Batavia Blue Devils boys’ basketball team suffered a heartbreaking defeat tonight, losing 56-55 to Wayne in the championship game of the Section V Class B1 Tournament at the Batavia High School gymnasium.
Junior guard Mason Blankenberg’s 15-foot jumper from the left side of the foul line with 7.8 seconds to play erased Batavia’s one-point lead and lifted the Eagles to their third sectional title in the past five years.
Batavia had a chance to pull out a victory but Wayne successfully defended on a drive to the basket by Alex Hale, one of eight seniors on the Blue Devils’ roster, as the clock expired – igniting a wild celebration by the visitors and their fans, while dashing the hopes of the home team and its faithful.
Both teams came into the game with 14-0 records, with Wayne capturing the Finger Lakes East crown and Batavia cruising to the title in Monroe County Division 4.
Following Blankenberg’s clutch shot, Batavia inbounded the ball and quickly got it over the midcourt line to enable Head Coach Buddy Brasky to call a timeout with 4.3 seconds remaining.
Brasky said the play call was a “progression” that would hopefully give his team more than one option.
“We had a progression with Zach (Gilebarto) in the corner, Stone (Siverling) in the post and then Alex after he inbounds it, comes to get it and goes to the basket. That’s what we tried to do,” he said.
After throwing it in, Hale received a return pass from Faraz Idrees and drove into the lane with Wayne’s Eli Schichtel guarding him. As he crossed the foul line, he was sandwiched by Schichtel and Tyler Reynolds, and then stumbled to the floor – unable to get off a shot as the horn sounded.
Gilebarto and Siverling had been positioned on the right and left baseline, respectively, but the opportunity to get either of them the ball failed to materialize. Siverling was unable to break free from the double-teaming of Blankenberg and Devon Forrest, and Blankenberg then released to follow Gilebarto to the left side of the key.
Brasky said that Wayne’s height advantage with Blankenberg at 6-foot-3 and Forrest and Schichtel both at 6-2 was a deciding factor.
“Their size, in the end, got us,” he said. “They were able to put Blankenberg on Gilebarto and that bothered him some (Gilebarto was held to 18 points, five under his average). They put a 6-3 kid on him and it’s tough for him to shoot over him as he’s 5-11.”
When it was mentioned that everybody in the building was thinking that Gilebarto would take the final shot, Brasky said, “Well, they knew that, too, so I’ll have to watch the film to see if he was open, but you’ve got to figure they would deny him – which is why we had the other progressions.”
Wayne Coach Bill Thomson, who called Brasky “a coaching legend who runs an amazing program,” said he was shocked that neither Gilebarto nor Siverling touched the ball in the final seconds.
“Yes, I was very surprised. They put them both on the baseline and I didn’t know – I was shocked, shocked when I saw that,” Thomson said. “And I actually thought they traveled twice on that play at the end of the game.”
The game’s first 16 minutes was a tale of two contrasting halves as Batavia jumped out to an 18-6 lead en route to a 21-11 edge after the first quarter before Wayne roared back, outscoring the Blue Devils 19-10 to pull within one at intermission.
Senior Luke Rogers swished three three-point shots in the first quarter (and a fourth in the second period) while Siverling and Gilebarto added six apiece, before Blankenberg scored seven of his game-high 23 in the second quarter to spark the Eagles’ rally.
Reynolds erupted for 10 points, including a pair of deep three-pointers, to offset Siverling’s eight and Gilebarto’s six as the teams traded baskets in the third quarter. Batavia broke a 37-37 tie on a three-pointer by Gilebarto and layup by Siverling, before Wayne came back behind Reynolds and Blankenberg to take a 46-44 lead entering the fourth period.
Siverling, who led Batavia with 21 points, rebounded his own miss and scored with about six minutes left to put Batavia up 51-48, but Reynolds stole the ball and went in for an uncontested dunk to make it 51-50 at the 3:35 mark.
A spinning layup by Blankenberg put Wayne back on top but Siverling converted a pass from Gilebarto to put Batavia ahead, 53-52, with two minutes left. Wayne responded as Forrest hit a 17-footer at 1:35 before Gilebarto drove in for a basket with 25 seconds to play to give the Blue Devils a 55-54 lead.
Brasky credited Rogers for giving his team an early boost against Wayne’s 2-3 zone defense.
“He’s one of our shooters and I told him that when he was open, shoot it with no hesitation. He did and to his credit he made them and got us off to a good start,” he said.
The Eagles switched to a man-to-man defense and that, coupled with their hot outside shooting, got back in the game in the second quarter.
“We knew when we went on that early run that they would score and go on a run of their own. I wasn’t surprised that they would come back – they’re undefeated,” Brasky said.
A shortened season marked by COVID-19 restrictions that prevented many family members and fans from watching the Blue Devils has ended on a down note, but Brasky said he will remember it as one of his most satisfying.
“I love these kids,” he said. “I told them in the locker room that they made me love coaching again. We’ve had a couple of tough groups here in the last few years that were a little harder to coach, but these kids rekindled my love for coaching. They’re a great group of guys.
“The whole senior group was a committed group and they are a great, great group. And they will be successful in their lives because they understand about hard work, dedication and sacrificing for the good of the team. They understand all of that, and that is what is going to take them on in life in whatever they choose to do.”
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Photos by Steve Ognibene.
Photos: The photo at top tells the story as the Batavia Blue Devils' sit dejectedly on their bench moments after losing by one point to Wayne. Other photos: Zach Gilebarto (21) and Stone Siverling (24) score inside, Alex Hale and Wayne's Eli Schichtel (1) battle on the boards, and Wayne's Mason Blankenberg makes a move around Gilebarto toward the hoop.
