No matter the sport, there are 3 local in-region rivalries that seemingly always deliver no matter what sport. First off is obviously the City Rivalry (Spartanburg vs Dorman). Byrnes-Dorman is also among the more intense among the three. But, probably the most underrated that may arguably be more heated than Dorman-Spartanburg is between the Gaffney Indians and Byrnes Rebels.
When you think of the history between them, no doubt several epic battles on the gridiron come to mind. But, Friday night at Schofield Gymnasium, the Indians gave the undefeated Rebels all they could handle in one of the most exciting games I have personally seen this season on the high school hardwoods.
Flashback to January 7th – these two squads met at “The Burial Ground” in Gaffney to the tune of a close game in which the Rebs pulled away in the final minutes. It was an absolute war of attrition. The return game was no different.
As a matter of fact, Gaffney further exposed what is the biggest issue with the Byrnes team. In the early going, the Indians shot the lights out. Senior shooting guard Londin Bailey scored 12 points in the first quarter. All twelve of them came on three pointers, and on 3 of the 4, he was wide open in the corner. It seems strange to say that a team with a 21-0 record that prior to their last loss (to Lexington in the 2024 state championship game), won 15 straight, has an area they need to improve on significantly. But, this game demonstrated that the Runnin’ Rebels have some issues with half-court defense, which definitely concerns Coach Layne Fowler.
“They had us as far as defense goes all night long”, said Fowler. “We were sluggish, and they had us in scramble mode all game long. I think that’s a credit to Gaffney’s guards. They did a lot of good things to put us in that spot. But, Dorman exposed that we struggle to finish inside. But, tonight, it was our half court man-to-man defense and defensive rebounding that showed as the biggest areas we need to improve on.”
Gaffney did keep Byrnes on their heels by taking away their biggest strength – their offense – at least in the early going. The Rebels picked up most of their first quarter points from an unlikely source – Suki Singh. He scored 8 points – six of which came at the free throw line. The combination of Singh and Evan Enos helped to keep Byrnes within striking distance. But, the Indians kept sophomore phenom Colt Fowler from getting going until the waning moments of the first half, when he made back to back contested layups, drawing fouls on both of them for a personal 5-0 run. That burst awoke a sleeping giant.
Thanks to Fowler’s late push, the Rebels and Indians went into the half knotted up at 45. At that moment, Colt had 16 points to his name. In the 2nd half, he exploded for 18 more to lead the team with 34 to add to having 9 assists and 6 defensive rebounds. From that line alone, one would think Byrnes ran away in the last 16 minutes. But, once again, their half court defense, particularly on the interior, struggled.
The 2 sides traded blows, with Gaffney leading the way all the way up until the 3:15 mark of the 4th quarter, when once again, a hero other than Colt Fowler stepped up for the Rebels. Evan Enos, who would end up being one of 4 Byrnes starters to score in double figures with 14 points – enough to be the third highest on the team, put up a one-handed floater with a defender in his face to give his team a 75-74 lead to cap a 10-4 run. Fabian McClintock would later add a layup to extend to a 12-4 push and give the Rebels a 77-74 cushion that would end up being more than they’d need.
Byrnes went on to outscore Gaffney 6-2 over the last 3 minutes to secure the 83-76 victory to remain undefeated on the season at 21-0 (9-0 region 2-5A).
“You just have to tip your cap to Gaffney. They are much improved from when we last played them at their place.”, Coach Fowler said of his thoughts on the game. “Early on, we let our offense dictate our defense. When we do that, we are not successful. We have to build from our defense and get out and run. Colt did a good job of getting downhill and not only making buckets but finding guys. But we also had some different guys step up like Evan Enos, who was big inside for us tonight. Obviously we weren’t there for a full 32 minutes tonight, but we were down the stretch.”
Again, a key in winning this offensive war of attrition for Byrnes was having several guys step up. Aside from Colt Fowler and Evan Enos, the Rebels got significant contributions from Suki Singh, who went on to build off his first quarter with 6 more points to finish with 15, making him their 2nd leading scorer. Fabian McClintock rounded out the scoring with 12 while Jamari Cullen, despite being in foul trouble for most of the game, narrowly missed the mark with 8.
On the Gaffney side, they also had 4 to put up double figures. London Bailey led the way with 23. Zyon Ratchford logged 19 while Rickey Littlejohn and Deylen Whitaker tallied 13 each.
The rebels will now look to make a push at finishing the regular season, which unbelievably is down to its last 2 weeks, undefeated. That is a feat Coach Fowler says will take something extra from his team.
“I feel like this is a situation where we have a target on our backs. Teams are gunning for us and we are going to have to be more mature. We have to be mature and tough enough to handle that pressure.”
Byrnes will look to show their maturity level and keep their streak alive on Tuesday night as they go on the road to take on Spartanburg. They will close out the penultimate week of the season with a huge home game against Dorman on Friday. Gaffney has the inverse of that schedule, going to the Cavaliers on Tuesday and hosting the Vikings on Friday. All those games have a tentative 7:30 tip.
