Scoreless Third Quarter Dooms Byrnes Against Riverside

“Last time, they took it to us. They’re disciplined and you cannot expect them to beat themselves. We have to go execute and beat them.” 

That was what Byrnes Head Coach Layne Fowler had to say while reflecting on the last time his Rebels met Riverside, looking ahead to what they’d need to do better in order to beat the Warriors in the return game Friday night with the region 2-5A championship on the line. 

Sometimes, familiarity with an opponent helps. You have the film. You know what you did wrong and need to correct. But sometimes, no matter what you do, the opposition is just that good and you have to tip your cap to them. That was the case in Schofield Gymnasium Friday night. 

Byrnes, who fell 84-72 on the road back on January 20th in a game where they found themselves down 16 in the first quarter but fought back to within a possession before running out of steam, got off to a much better start on defense in front of their home crowd. 

The defensive struggle was mutual through the first 8 minutes of the game, but the final points of the quarter came on a buzzer beating three pointer from Colt Fowler for his first points of the night. That triple was a big one as it not only tied the contest at 10 heading to the second quarter, but also served as a spark plug for a period in which everything looked to be going the way the Rebels needed in order to claim the region crown. 

Fowler notched 6 more points over the 2nd eight minutes to lead Byrnes with 9. Fabian McClintock added 4 for a first half total of 8 points, while Jack Bailey made a significant contribution with 6 of his seven 1st half points in the frame. All that was part of a 13-2 Byrnes run to take a 28-18 lead into the half. 

But for every bit as well as the 2nd quarter went, the third was the polar opposite and totally flipped the game. Three minutes into the 3rd period, Riverside had gone on a 5-0 push. Two minutes later, that run ballooned to 15-0. By the end of the frame, it was 17-0. That’s right. The high-powered Byrnes offense was absolutely blanked for an entire quarter, and to make matters worse, Riverside made it a 20-0 run before McClintock finally broke the lid off the hoop early in the 4th stanza.

Byrnes would go on to muster just 11 points in the 2nd half, leading to a 57-45 Riverside victory to claim the region championship.

“They picked up their defensive intensity and we just went ice cold,” said Coach Fowler after the game. “It was probably the first time in my whole career of 27 years that we had a quarter where we didn’t score. The bothersome part of it for me is that it led to poor defense. If you’re not making shots, you still have to guard, and we didn’t in the 2nd half.” 

Sebi Boyogueno was the star of the show for the Warriors with 23 points, most all of which came in the deciding 20-0 Riverside run. On the other side, Byrnes was led by McClintock with 12, Bailey and Colt Fowler with 9 each, and Sukhi Singh with 6. 

While the loss, painful as it may have been for a Byrnes team that finishes the regular season with a 21-5 overall record and a 12-2 mark in region 2-5A was worth the tip of the cap to Riverside, Layne Fowler was quick to point out that there are still some huge positives in it all. 

“There were only two teams with an opportunity to win a region championship tonight — that was us and Riverside”, said Fowler. “They were the better team. But we went 21-5. We beat some really good teams this year. And when you have a chance to win a region 2-5A championship, you’ve had a good season. Obviously we are disappointed we didn’t win it, but we will learn from it and get better. Now we have a week to prepare for next Saturday’s playoff game. Hopefully we get better and healthier and we will make a deep run in the playoffs.”