Junior guard Reece Dumpit didn’t even have to talk to St. Charles East coach Rob Klemm.
The Saints were without two rotational players Friday night, so Dumpit realized right away there would be an opportunity for extra playing time. And he wanted to take advantage of that.
“Coach has always had a lot of trust in me,” Dumpit said. “That’s been the main thing about him that’s helped me. We were down two players. I came off the bench and had energy.
“Our team was just focused. Having a team like that is really going to get you far.”
Dumpit was on the court in crunch time as St. Charles East held on for a 54-53 DuKane Conference win. He scored 11 points, including four big free throws that kept Batavia at bay.
Gavin Szerlong led the Saints (8-8, 3-3) with 20 points. Xavier Justice paced Batavia (6-7, 2-4) with 24 points, while Jax Abalos added 14 points and Brett Berggren had 11.
Dumpit converted a pair of driving layups in the second quarter, ending the third with a 3-pointer. His final two free throws in the fourth created a 52-44 lead, which turned out to be necessary.
Justice, who scored 15 points in the fourth quarter, made three 3-pointers in the final minute as the surging Bulldogs put on the pressure.
“With Reece making those last two, we decided to stick with the game plan of how we were playing defense,” Klemm said. “(Justice) just came to life. We knew he could shoot it.
“He hit some big shots to make the game as close as it was.”
Klemm had no qualms about having the 5-foot-7 Dumpit handle the ball down the stretch.
“We knew he was capable of it,” Klemm said. “We knew that there would be an opportunity. You have to take advantage of them.”
Klemm had a feeling Dumpit was up to the challenge during the day Friday.
“You could tell before the game he was locked in, focused, ready to go,” Klemm said. “He’s capable of that. He’s a great basketball player. He has great handles.
“He hit a huge three at the end of the third. He played incredibly well.”
While Klemm said he knew Dumpit was capable of a performance like that, doing it in an actual game is a different story. Dumpit wanted to prove he was worthy of the chance.
“Just take advantage of every second I was given, leave it all out on the court,” Dumpit said. “It’s more than I normally play. Whatever coach needs, I have trust in him.
“I know he’s going to do the right thing.”
With Dumpit in the game and handling the ball well, it allowed Szerlong to play off the ball more, which helped kickstart his scoring.
“Reece is my guy,” Szerlong said. “It was more confidence in himself than anything. We’ve always had confidence in him. It was huge that he could show up like that.
“I love that kid, so him getting better and being more confident is super important to me.”
Szerlong shot 4 of 6 on 3-pointers, the recipient of kick-out passes, several of which were generated by Dumpit’s drives.
“I hit that first three to start the game and it was like barbecue chicken,” Szerlong said. “We were cooking from there.”
Dumpit said he had been focusing on this game for quite some time. With Cooper Jensen and Andrew Wolfsmith unavailable Friday, Dumpit was able to put that to good use.
“We spent a lot of time focusing on Batavia,” Dumpit said. “I went and watched one of their games in the Christmas tournament. I’ve been scouting them for a while.
“We were excited for this game and the energy really brought us the W.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
