By: Tyler Fleming
Dorman Arena was a “Pandemic Sellout”for the massive Region 2-AAAAA showdown between the Dorman Cavaliers and the Byrnes Rebels. The region leading Cavaliers came in looking for their 10th straight win. They got out to a quick start leading 14-10 after the first quarter. The Rebels meanwhile wanted to get out in transition which has become a staple for Coach Fowler. Coach Thomas Ryan of Dorman wanted to slow down the pace, to try and counter the quick pace of the Rebels. Neither method was very successful as it seemed as if the bucket had a lid on it, as baskets were hard to come by in the first half, only 47 total points scored in the half capped off by a buzzer beating 3 in the corner from Zay Foster to give his Cavs a 26-21 halftime lead. He led the way with 8 points in the half for Dorman, meanwhile Tay Bruton had 8 of his own to pace the fast paced Rebels.
The Cavaliers scoring struggles were quickly figured out, as they stormed out to a 11-3 run to open Quarter number 3, getting some help from Davison Wright’s two corner 3s. They would open the final quarter with an 11pt advantage, it was down just a point after Coach Fowler took a timeout with 5:26 to play, as he was trying to cool off Jalen Breazeale who had stormed out to 10 second half points, with 2 big 3s. He would end up leading all scorers with 18.The lead got as big as 15 late in the 4th as Dorman never looked back after going on the big run to open the half. Byrnes never really had an answer for Breazeale, and it didn’t help that Senior Guard Dustin Gillam fouled out with only 5 points. Byrnes was able to cut it to 5, the final margin after Coach Ryan pulled his starters, at the end Dorman got their 10th straight W, 60-55.
