It’s been quite the start to the new year for Batavia.

Entering Saturday’s matchup against Hinsdale Central, the Bulldogs had been winners of eight of their first nine contests of 2026.

And in front of the home crowd in the 32nd annual Jim & Sylvia Roberts Night of Hoops, they kept that momentum going full throttle.

The Bulldogs used a combination of a stout defense and some key scoring sprees to take a 55-37 victory over the Red Devils.

“We were really good at winning those one-possession games in November and early December, but this group is very coachable,” Bulldogs coach Jim Nazos said. “They see things when they’re not good and start discussing amongst each other on how to improve. And I think we still have the best ahead of us.”

After a close first quarter where the team led by only two points, Batavia (13-8) slowly started to pull away in each of the next three quarters, taking a 27-19 lead into halftime and never allowed the lead to get under double digits after the first score of the third quarter.

“For us, this whole weekend has been really big,” senior Brett Berggren said. “We beat Glenbard North on Friday and now we get this one. So having these two wins under our belt heading into next week after losing earlier in the week is really big.”

Berggren led the scoring for the Bulldogs with 15 points on the night. Senior Xavier Justice was right behind him with 13, which included three big 3-pointers in the third quarter.

“We know that we have some great shooters on the team, and teams are going to scout that out,” Berggren said. “So when they crash hard on them, we know that our other five can come in big, and that’s what we needed to do.”

While the offense was lighting up the scoreboard, the defense on the night proved to be just as strong.

“Defensively we’ve just done a lot of good things throughout the stretch,” Nazos said. “There’s just a really good team defensive awareness and communication while also limiting teams of possession. And with the plays that we get, it’s helping us a ton.”

Junior Dane Farrar (five points) led the defensive effort in the victory, picking up 10 rebounds while adding three steals and two blocks.

“I’ve been in the weight room all summer and getting bigger, so I’ve been using that to my advantage when I can,” Farrar said. “I always box out and try to get steals while guarding the scorer on the other team. I was definitely doing most of the dirty work.”

Hinsdale Central (8-13) struggled against the potent Bulldog defense, shooting only 32% (13 of 40) from the floor and only making 4 of 15 3-pointers on the night.

“Batavia just played us extremely well,” Red Devils coach Nick Latorre said. “Their defense was very aggressive and took us out of pretty much anything that we wanted to do.”

The lone Red Devil that showed very little signs of struggle on offense was Cole Bero. The senior finished the night with a career-high 26 points, including knocking down all of the team’s 3-pointers, and also added three steals.

“He probably had the best game of his life out there,” Latorre said. “He was just really aggressive and whenever he’s knocking down his shots, it really makes a big difference for him.”