Batavia senior Brett Berggren is accustomed to making game-changing plays in football.

As a wide receiver, the 6-foot-2, 185-pounder broke Batavia’s all-time receiving record with 2,113 yards, capping his stellar career with 61 catches for 1,000 yards and 10 touchdowns to help lead the Bulldogs to the Class 8A state semifinals.

Less than two months into the basketball season, Berggren is making headlines on the basketball court.

After the Bulldogs shot a frigid 3-for-27 on 3-pointers (11.1 percent), Berggren took matters into his own hands in the final seconds against host York in the first round of the Jack Tosh Holiday Classic on Friday night.

Right after missing a two-foot shot, Berggren snared the offensive rebound – amid a crowd of players – and laid in the winning putback with 3.1 seconds left to power Batavia to a 37-36 victory over York. Berggren did not attempt a 3-pointer, but he helped his guards overcome a tough shooting night by scoring seven points. Xavier Justice led the Bulldogs with 14 points and Dane Farrar added nine points.

“I just saw the ball went perfectly right to me after I missed it,” Berggren said of his game-winning two-pointer. “I didn’t give up and got it right back. I just tried to get in the basket and hoped it would go in. This win means a lot. We’ve lost some big wins, so we needed this one.”

Battling a plethora of big and strong post players from York, Berggren said he relied on his football background to find space underneath the basket.

“I just tried to battle with them in the post,” Berggren said. “I tried to get leverage on them and hope for the best. I think my football helped me a lot, being more physical and meeting their physicality.”

The Bulldogs (3-5) trailed all game until seizing the lead with 3:04 left on a putback basket by Evan Blankenship, but they did not regain the lead until Berggren’s basket. The Bulldogs missed all eight of their 3s in the first quarter, then misfired on all five of their six second-quarter 3s. Batavia shot just 1-for-20 on 3s until Farrar nailed a 3 early in the fourth.

“I thought defensively we did some stuff when we needed to,” Batavia coach Jim Nazos said. “We found a way to get things down. I hope we don’t shoot like that again, but you will have those nights.”

The Dukes (8-2) drop down into the consolation round, stung mostly by a high number of turnovers and couldn’t take advantage of their interior size, while also shooting 0-for-8 on 3s. Hunter Stepanich, a Princeton recruit, finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds to pace the Dukes.

“We turned the ball over in the 20s, so that was the story of the game,” York coach Mike Dunn said. “It was a tough first-round matchup. I thought we rebounded the ball very well except that last possession. We have young guards and we have to take care the ball. We wasted a good opportunity for us.”