The Byrne Creek Bulldogs made doubly sure no upsets would occur on their home floor.
The Bulldogs allowed the New Westminster Hyacks a favourable start in their BurWest high school boys' basketball league game, before clamping down on the district giantkillers with a swarming and effective defence en route to a 67-44 win at Byrne Creek on Wednesday.
Two days earlier, the unranked Hyacks knocked off the No. 8-ranked Burnaby South Rebels 57-50 at South.
But Byrne Creek senior Kennedy George served notice that a similar result would not be tolerated in the doghouse.
George scored 11 of his game-high 24 points in the opening quarter that set the tone for the remainder of the match.
The 6-4 George also led Byrne's withering press that baffled the harried Hyacks all game long, creating multiple turnovers in the midcourt.
"We weren't ready to play at all. It was a different intensity level to play Byrne Creek than it was for Burnaby South," said New Westminster forward Hasrit Sidhu. "We just weren't ready for their aggressiveness."
George, who subbed out for all of the fourth quarter, had 19 points and half of his 10 rebounds by half time.
Byrne Creek led 35-17 at the interval and extended that lead to 24 points after three quarters.
"We had some good moments of execution that helped a lot. We took a little bit of their spirit. The mental part was there for us to execute," said Byrne Creek head coach Wayne Best.
That moment came late in the opening quarter for the Bulldogs.
George stole the ball and broke to the basket, finishing with an emphatic dunk and a subsequent three point play at the foul line.
The Bulldogs opened the second quarter on a 10-0 run and never looked back.
Byrne Creek keyed on New West's Masood Walli, holding the long-ball specialist to just one bucket.
"That was key. The guys are understanding what we need to do," Best said. "But the work is not done."
On Monday, New West jumped out to t an 8-2 lead and
held the advantage through the full 40 minutes with some timely shooting down the stretch.
Walli led the way with 21 points for the winners, including five three-pointers.
One of Walli's long-range bombs stopped a 12-4 third-quarter South comeback run in its tracks.
Rebel post Nick Irvine scored 15 of his gamehigh 25 points in the third frame.
In the fourth quarter, Jordan Zeer drained a key short jumper in the final minutes after South had shaved the deficit to just three points.
New West guard Manvir Gandham stroked six straight free throws to ice the win.
"Actually we did (think we could win). We've been working hard in practice and were looking forward to this game," said Gandham, who finished the game with 12 points. "This was a good testing game for us - to see where we are against a top-10 team."
South was held to just 19 first-half points.
"We just didn't come to play," said South head coach David Smith. "We think we're better than we are."
South and Byrne Creek will face each other next week in the season finale.
