William Byrd High School will be the site of a girls-boys basketball
doubleheader on Friday as Staunton River teams come to town. The girls will
open the doubleheader at 5:30 pm with the boys set to tip off at approximately 7
pm.
The boys, now 4-4 in the district, will be looking to get back on the plus
side of their Blue Ridge record after splitting their last two games. The Terriers
lost a heartbreaker at Lord Botetourt last Friday but bounced back to defeat
Franklin County at home on Tuesday.
The Botetourt game went down to the final minutes before the host
Cavaliers prevailed, 47-44. Botetourt led 28-19 at the half and 42-35 after three
quarters, but the Terriers mounted a charge when the Cavs tried to milk the clock
in the fourth quarter.
Byrd cut the lead to a single point and had the ball with just over 20
seconds remaining. The Terriers missed a shot and LB rebounded, but Isaiah
Board stole the ball and drove the baseline attempting to give Byrd the lead.
However, Board was called for a charge and Byrd was forced to foul. LB hit both
shots and a long three at the buzzer didn’t find net as the Cavaliers held on for the
win.
“The game came down to the last second block-charge,” said Byrd coach
Brad Greenway. “They got the call wrong, it’s pretty clear on film, but the refs
don’t have the advantage of looking back on film and I understand that’s a tough
call in the moment. Just part of the game.”
Hayden Eads led the Terriers with 17 points while Ty Blalock had 11 and
Board had nine. Byrd had no points off the bench and the 44 points was their
lowest total of the season.
“LB did a really good job of junking the game up with different zone
looks and keeping us uncomfortable, it was really hard to get into any kind of a
flow,” said Greenway. “And, ultimately, we could not get our offense going
against their zone. We have been really good against zones this year, but we just
couldn’t get comfortable in that gym Friday night.”
The Byrdmen were back at home Tuesday for a 60-55 win over visiting
Franklin County. The Terriers led at the half, 32-29, but were outscored in the
third quarter, 17-6, as the Eagles took a 46-38 lead into the final period. Ty
Blalock scored 10 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter as the Terriers rallied for
the win.
“Really good start for us, we went into half feeling pretty good,” said
Greenway. “Unfortunately, we came out and had a third-quarter that we would
like to have back. Dug ourselves a 10 point hole with turnovers and a lack of ball
movement. I thought some of our guys were pressing and trying to do too much
themselves.
“In the fourth quarter we came out and controlled the paint. We were able
to work ourselves back into a flow by working inside out and closed out the game
with good defense and efficient basketball. We have had really good guard play for most of this year, but this one was a little bit different where it ended up being
our big guys inside that carried us through the second half. (JR)Rosser and Ty,
between those two gave us a big push to get over the hump.”
Eads was the only other Terrier in double figures with 13. Board and Israel
Hairston had seven each and Drew Lindsay hit two threes in the first quarter and
finished with six points.
Byrd also played at Hidden Valley last Wednesday and dropped a 66-62
decision in a non-district game. Hairston had 17, Board had 16 and Blalock had
11 points.
The Terriers are now 11-8 overall and 4-4 in the Blue Ridge District
heading into Friday’s game with Staunton River. Next week Byrd will wrap up
the regular season with a home game against Northside on Tuesday and a non-
district game with Glenvar on Wednesday, February 7.
