The William Byrd boys will open the Blue Ridge District basketball tournament at home on Friday against Franklin County. The tournament will be held on Friday, Monday and Wednesday at the home of the higher seeds.
Byrd comes in as the fourth seed after finishing with a 5-5 BRD record. The Terriers will be trying to snap a three game losing streak after closing the regular season with losses to the district’s top two seeds, Northside and William Fleming, around a loss to George Wythe in the Adam Ward Classic at Salem High last Saturday.
Last Friday in Vinton the Terriers hung tough against an undefeated Northside team before falling, 67-57. Byrd went down 20-5 at the outset but clawed their way back into the game. The Terriers pulled to within six points in the fourth quarter but couldn’t pull even.
“Obviously a huge hole that most won’t climb out of, especially when you’re playing the number one team in the state,” said Byrd coach Brad Greenway. “Ultimately Northside did a great job finishing the deal off. They’ve got an experienced, deep, talented squad coached by one of the best to ever do it. Lot of respect for that team and certainly Coach (Bill) Pope. We will likely see them again and we feel like we can play with anybody.”
Isaiah Board had 10 points to lead a balanced Byrd attack. Hayden Eads had eight and Israel Hairston, Drew Lindsay and Ty Blalock had half a dozen each.
The Terriers had to turn around and play George Wythe the following day at 10 am in the Adam Ward Classic at Salem High. Wythe is a state contender in Class 1 and the Maroons looked the part, taking a 57-40 win.
“George Wythe is a very fundamentally sound basketball team that plays with a lot of energy and speed,” said Greenway. “They are tough, but we couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn.”
Hairston led Byrd with 16 and Jaiden Childress had 13 points. Byrd made just four of 27 three point attempts, which is just under 15 percent.
“It’s just hard to win a basketball game with that kind of performance outside,” said Greenway. “It’s not that we were taking bad or unselfish shots, we just couldn’t get them to drop. Not sure if it had something to do with our legs from the night before or what. Just wasn’t our day.”
Byrd had another tough task Tuesday as they played at William Fleming, the district’s second place team, and lost 65-45. Lindsay led the Terriers with 12 points on four threes while Hairston had 10 and Board had eight points.
“We just didn’t have it,” said Greenway. “Fleming gave us a couple opportunities throughout the game where we got the lead back down to single digits, but every time that happened we just couldn’t get the momentum to sustain itself. The bottom line was we didn’t have the juice we have played with the last month, as we’ve played pretty well. So we’ve got to figure out how to get that back.”
Byrd finished the regular season with a 5-5 district record and an 11-11 overall mark. They beat Franklin County both times they played them during the season, 55-49 at home and 47-42 in Rocky Mount so that’s a good sign for Friday’s opening round game.
BLUE RIDGE DISTRICT BASKETBALL TOURNAMENTS
Boys
Quarterfinals- Friday, February 10
#6 Staunton River @ #3 Lord Botetourt 6:00 pm
#5 Franklin County @ #4 William Byrd 6:00 pm
Semifinals – Monday, February 13
Winner of #6 vs #3 @ William Fleming 7:30 pm
Winner of #4 vs #5 @ Northside 6:00 pm
Finals Wednesday, February 15
At Higher Seed
Girls
Quarterfinals- Friday, February 10
#6 William Byrd @ #3 Franklin County 6:00 pm
#5 Staunton River @ #4 Northside 6:00 pm
Semifinals – Monday, February 13
Winner of #6 vs #3 @ LordBotetourt 6:00 pm
Winner of #4 vs #5 @ William Fleming 5:30 pm
Finals Wednesday, February 15
At Higher Seed
