When Burnaby South and Bryne Creek tip off in senior boys’ basketball there is usually fireworks.
But the visual display in South’s 74-59 win over Byrne Creek in Wednesday’s mid-week league matchup was less than Celebration of Light worthy.
“We don’t seem to play well at 3:30 (p.m.),” said South head coach Dave Smith. “We lost our brains. We were just so emtional, we were incapable of playing well. They didn’t know how to deal with it.”’
The after-school atmosphere, coupled with a crackdown on personal fouls made for a sloppy first half.
Both teams counted nine points from the charity stripe in the first quarter of play.
But turnovers and missed opportunities continued at both ends of the court until South’s Tyus Batiste came off the bench and settled things down with a solid 13-point contribution, including nine points in the second stanza.
Byrne Creek kept themselves in the game in the second quarter, shaving the deficit to 38-32 at half time with three-pointers from Bodi Geoffrey and Abdul Bangura.
But in the second half, South caught fire when guard Taylor Smith moved to the wing position and was unstoppable, draining three buckets from beyond the arc to lead all scorers with 21 total points.
Martin Bogajev also settled down and contributed seven of his 15 points in the pivotal third quarter.
Geoffrey kept a hot hand in the second half for Byrne, leading the Bulldogs with a team-high 14 points. Darryl Cruz also had double-digit numbers with 11 points, including five-of-six free throws.
“They came in focused. We proved what we’re capable of in the first half,” said Byrne Creek head coach Bal Dhillon.
But Smith added that Byrne Creek likely missed its best chance to beat the No. 9-ranked quad A Rebels.
“It took us a half. It usually takes us two minutes to settle down. You can’t play the game when you are out of your head,” Smith said. “If (Byrne Creek) was going to beat us, today was the day.”
This week, the 10-6 Rebels will be in Abbotsford for the 54th annual Snowball Classic in a field of seven provincially ranked teams, including Ontario’s No. 2 quad A Henry Carr high school from Toronto, Sardis, Yale, W.J. Mouat and honourable mention St. George’s, as well as No. 2 AAA Abbotsford Senior and AA No. 3-ranked Southern Okanagan.
Later in January, Byrne Creek will also get a chance to again face AAA-ranked schools Sir Charles Tupper, Sutherland and host McMath at the Wildcat Classic in Richmond.
