Boys basketball: Lake Park vs. Batavia

BATAVIA – Shifting roles, the tandem of Camden Cerese and Thomas Rochford led Lake Park to a 48-36 DuKane Conference victory at Batavia on Wednesday night.

Rochford, a forward, scored 15 of his game-high 17 points from beyond the arc while Cerese, a guard, sank six close-range baskets.

“[No.] 1 [Cerese] is the guard and he’s scoring inside, and 30 [Rochford], the big guy, is scoring outside. That’s what’s great about those guys – they are versatile,” said Lake Park coach Billy Pitcher. “The next game might be the other way.”

Cerese’s layup with 30 seconds left in the first quarter put the Lancers up 16-12. The junior scored 16 points.

Batavia coach Jim Nazos sees his team as work in progress.

“We are still finding our way. There are flashes of things we do very well,” the Bulldogs coach said. “We are just not there yet.”

Batavia (2-5, 0-2) shined in the second quarter.

The Bulldogs took the lead and held the Lancers to one bucket. Nate Nazos scored six of his team-high 15 points in the period. Reserve Ben Fiegel’s basket with 1:48 left put Batavia on top 20-19. Jake Ambrose’s shot at the buzzer would have widened the lead, but it was waved off.

“We had a few turnovers and I thought we took a couple of bad shots which led them to opportunities in transition,” Pitcher said. “Nazos, a really great player, took advantage of the mistakes we made there.”

“There were parts of the game, like the second quarter where I thought we were very good,” said the Batavia coach. “We’ve got to build on those.”

Rochford’s third trey of the game was the only Lancer bucket in the frame.

“I just focused and went through the mechanics,” said Rochford of his five 3-pointers. “And it worked out.”

Lake Park (4-2, 2-0) rallied in the third quarter and scored 15 points to Batavia’s five to put the game away. The Lancers opened the quarter on an 11-0 run.

“We cleaned some things up on the offensive end in the second half, and that made our defense better. We wanted to do a better job of finding Nazos in transition,” Pitcher said.

“But taking good shots and taking care of the ball made it easier because now Batavia was not getting those open-floor situations.”

A 3-pointer from the left wing at the 3:08 mark of the quarter by Batavia’s Jacob Aseltine broke the run. Lake Park led 35-25 at the start of the fourth quarter.

“Early on in the third quarter, they started off with a run. We were up one and the next thing, we were down 10. If we are the team we want to be, we can’t do that,” coach Nazos said. “I’m optimistic about what this group can do. There are a lot of things we’ve got to clean up, but this group has the right mentality.”

https://basketball.dailyherald.com/sports/20221207/lake-parks-big-3rd-quarter-keys-victory-over-batavia/