If you had asked William Byrd basketball coach Brad Greenway what he wanted for his birthday on Tuesday you couldn’t have given anything better than he received. The Terriers pulled off a big win over Lord Botetourt on a day Greenway will never forget.
Greenway’s birthday was Tuesday but there was no time for a party as he had a home game with arch-rival Botetourt and his wife, Beth, was battling a kidney stone. As it turned out Beth needed surgery that night, but at that point the Terriers were already in the midst of beating Botetourt, who came in tied for second in the Blue Ridge District standings.
Let it be said that everything turned out fine. Beth’s surgery was successful and the basketball team pulled out an exciting 59-55 win.
“I wanted to be there for Beth but they didn’t decide on the surgery until 8:30,” said Greenway. “As for my birthday, I can’t think of a present I’d rather have than beating Lord Botetourt.”
This one was close all the way, with neither team winning a quarter by more than three points. Byrd led by four points at the half and three into the fourth quarter but the visiting Cavaliers rallied and led by four with three minutes to go.
At that point Jaiden Childress scored a couple buckets in the paint to tie the game at 55-all, then Israel Hairston hit a floater with 30 seconds to go to put Byrd up by two. Byrd’s defense was able to deny Botetourt on the other end and Isaiah Board was fouled with 1.4 seconds on the clock. Board calmly sank both and the Terriers avenged a prior 10 point loss to the Cavaliers in Daleville.
“It was a crazy day for me but a fun game to be a part of,” said Greenway. “It was a fun game for the fans to watch.”
Hairston led the Terriers with 15 points and played a sound floor game. Board had 13 points and center Grayson Webb had his best all-around game of the season. Grayson scored a dozen points on five-for-six shooting from the floor while dishing out eight assists, blocking six shots and snagging five rebounds.
“It was easily Grayson’s best game of the year,” said Greenway. “We didn’t have Ty (Blalock) after he suffered a concussion in practice so we really needed a good night from Grayson and he came up big.”
Childress scored eight points and had the two big baskets in crunch time and he also had a season high 17 rebounds.
“We played really well,” said Greenway. “I didn’t say it out loud during the game but I was thinking we deserved to win this game with how well we were playing.”
With the win the Terriers improved to 8-9 overall while evening their Blue Ridge District record at 3-3. Last Friday at home they led 12-5 William Fleming by seven at the half before falling, 65-57. Fleming jumped to an 8-0 lead at the outset and came out with the same aggressiveness to start the second half.
“They brought a bunch of pressure and we didn’t handle it well,” said Greenway. “When they took the lead in the third quarter we never could quite get it back.”
Board led Byrd with 16 points and Drew Lindsay hit four of six threes and had a dozen. Childress had nine points and seven rebounds and Blalock also had nine.
“It was a wild game,” said Greenway. “They’re a good team but we played right with them. With these last two games our kids are really starting to believe.”
The Terriers have a chance to even their overall record on Saturday when they take on 2-15 Staunton River in Moneta. That will be at 4 pm and it’s the first game of a boys-girls doubleheader.
The Byrdmen will be busy next week with three games in five days. They travel to Franklin County on Tuesday, host unbeaten Northside on Friday, February 3rd, and the next day they have to play George Wythe at 10 am in the morning in the Adam Ward Classic at Salem High School.
