The William Byrd boys will be in Daleville Friday with hopes of getting
back in the black in the Blue Ridge District standings. Byrd goes into the game
with a 3-3 district record after downing Franklin County in Rocky Mount Monday
night.
The Terriers had lost district games to Northside and William Fleming last
week to fall into the red in the BRD. However, they bounced back with a big 80-
66 win at Franklin County to even their record and improve to 10-6 overall.
“Good game for us from start to finish,” said Byrd coach Brad Greenway. “I felt like we left some points on the board in the first half and could’ve been a little bit more comfortable heading into halftime, but at the end of the day we played good basketball on both ends of the floor and picked up a much-needed
win on the road.”
The Terriers led 38-35 at the half, then outscored the Eagles 20-11 in the
third quarter as Ty Blalock, Hayden Eads, Drew Lindsay and Isaiah Board all hit
three point baskets. Eads was six-for-six from the line in the fourth quarter and
Board was five-for-six as the Terriers held on for the win. Board finished with 26
points, Eads had 10, Blalock had 13 and Israel Hairston had a dozen.
Last week the Terriers went up against the two district leaders and came
out 0-2. On Wednesday they played at first place Northside and fell behind 17-2
at the outset, which is a recipe for disaster against the talented Vikings. Byrd
fought back but to no avail, losing 88-70.
“They looked like they were in the middle of a hot streak right out of the
gate,” said Greenway. “They hit everything and we had nothing. We kind of got
our act together around halftime and competed the rest of the way, but when you
start in a hole like that you will very seldom make it back out.”
Board had 23 for Byrd and Eads had 20. Blalock had 17 and Lindsay had
10 as only four Terriers scored against Northside.
Byrd was back in the hot seat Friday when they hosted William Fleming,
the consensus second best team in the district. The game was played in the
William Byrd Middle School gym with some issues in the high school building
and the visiting Colonels found the baskets to their liking in an 81-65 win.
“I thought we had a good game plan and our guys competed hard,” said
Greenway. “At the end of the day, tip your hat to William Fleming. They played a
good game and they’ve got some really good players on that side.”
Eads led Byrd in this one with 22 points while Board had 18 and Lindsay
hit four three-pointers on his way to 15. Jaron Walker had 31 for Fleming.
The win was the 350th career victory for Mickey Hardy as William
Fleming coach. That’s significant that he hit the milestone in Vinton as Hardy was
a star player for the Terriers in the 1970s under coach Roland Malone before
going on to play at Virginia Tech. Hardy has been the coach at Fleming since
2003.
Long time William Byrd basketball fans recalled fond memories of two former Terrier greats when Byrd played host to William Fleming at the William Byrd Middle School gym last Friday.
Byrd was scheduled to play at Hidden Valley on Wednesday, but results
were too late for publication. They’re at Botetourt Friday, then return home to
host Franklin County in a rematch next Tuesday.
