Boys Basketball: Trent Tousana buzzer-beater sends Batavia past St. Charles North

ST. CHARLES – Trent Tousana heard the Batavia bench counting down the waning seconds.

His primary scoring option for a final shot, Ethan Ivan, wasn’t open as the St. Charles North defense converged.

With the planned look not open, Tousana was left to take matters in his own hands, dancing just past half court until he found an opening while moving to his left.

Tousana banked in the buzzer-beater from nearly halfcourt for a 50-49 Batavia win, and his Bulldogs’ teammates spilled out onto the court in elation.

“I just put the shot up because I can’t just pass it up with one second,” Tousana said. “It felt great, especially against a really good team.”

Tousana, coming off a career-high 32 points against St. Charles East this week, added another fantastic chapter to his big junior season.

He later walked out of the St. Charles North gym with 15 points and a memory he may never forget.

“Trent hitting that shot, I really do [believe] chance really favors those who work their [tails] off,” Batavia coach Jim Nazos said. “He’s in the gym religiously. He works all the time, so I’m happy for him.”

“Trent is a religious worker,” Nazos continued. “There’s times before our practice, I know he’s over at M14 [Training Academy] shooting before our practice and working out. He’s just a gym rat. He loves to play; he loves to work.”

For St. Charles North (6-2, 5-2), both losses this season have come on made three-pointers at the buzzer on its home floor. Earlier this season, Geneva’s Nate Valentine hit nine threes en route to 33 points and the win.

Tousana’s buzzer-beater evidently came against some of his best friends, Max and Jude Love.

“I’ve been working with them tons in the offseason. I wouldn’t be where I am without them,” Tousana said.

Tousana sank two free throws to tie the game at 44-44 with 54 seconds remaining, but St. Charles North answered to put itself in position to win the game. Ethan Marlowe made a go-ahead layup 20 seconds later, and Batavia turned it over on its ensuing possession.

Jude Love missed a free throw, but his twin, Max, cleaned it up with a rebound before getting fouled. Max Love made both free throws for the 48-44 lead.

Batavia (5-4, 5-2) answered yet again with a three-pointer from Luke Fehrenbacher to pull within one. St. Charles North nearly turned it over on the ensuing possession, but on a second inbound, Marlowe was fouled with 10 seconds left.

Marlowe split two free throws, setting the table for the thrilling finish.

“We were just focused on switching everything trying [to] not let them get a shot off,” Marlowe said on the game-deciding play. “...He made a great shot, but at the end of the day, it’s more than just the last play. We made some mistakes earlier in the game that we had to bounce back from and that kind of buried us deeper.”

Collectively, the North Stars finished just 9-of-21 at the free throw line.

“And, that’s the thing: You’ve got to step up to the line and make them,” Marlowe said of the free throw woes. We were 9-of-21 from the free throw line and that’s just unacceptable in a game that’s a two-point game.”

“We’re a better free throw shooting team than that,” North Stars coach Tom Poulin said. “We can’t let this one moment now get in our heads. We can shoot free throws. Tonight, we missed too many. We let a team...we let them hang around and we let it come down to one possession. They key is: we allowed it to happen.”

Ivan led the Bulldogs with 19 points and six rebounds. Fehrenbacher had nine points while Austin Ambrose had four points.

The North Stars were led by Marlowe’s 15 points and three rebounds. Jimmy Durocher had eight points and three rebounds while Max Love had 11 points.

“Give these guys a lot of credit,” Nazos said. “There was a lot of times in that game where we got a lot of chances to sink our head down...there was a lot of possessions there where we could’ve felt sorry for ourselves but the group never does.”