MENDOTA — An 11-0 run from Port Byron Riverdale tested the Byron Tiger basketball team during the fourth quarter of the IHSA 2A Mendota Sectional Semifinal matchup on Wednesday.
A series of layups toward the end of the third quarter enabled Byron to hold a 54-35 lead entering the fourth quarter, where a turnover on an inbounds pass led to a Riverdale layup that sparked 11 consecutive points and forced two Tiger timeouts. Although the energy cranked up on the Riverdale bench as well as the Riverdale side of the gymnasium, Byron shook off the mistakes, leaning on its defense and free-throw shooting to secure a 70-51 win over the Rams.
“We wanted to come in and score points off of our defense, which is what we’ve been doing all season,” said Byron guard Ryan Tucker, who finished with 18 points on Wednesday. “We knew we could have a comfortable lead if we did that and all we had to do was keep it from there. We were missing some layups early in the game, but we were able to rebound the ball and score on putbacks. We were able to get our easy points, get the lead and keep it from there.”
Byron (28-2, 8-1 Big Northern) advances to the sectional championship game on Friday, when the No. 1 seeded Tigers will take on the No. 4 seed Princeton and attempt to win the school’s first sectional title since the 2006-07 season, when Byron went 29-2 under former head coach Ryan Webber. While the Tigers struggled at the rim early in Wednesday’s game, Byron was able to take a 15-9 first-quarter lead behind 3-point baskets from Cason Newton and Jack Hiveley.
The two first-quarter triples were the only triples Byron made on Wednesday, as Riverdale (22-9, 8-4 Three Rivers) defended the 3-point line well throughout the game. But the Rams struggled against Byron’s three-quarter court pressure, with the Tigers using their length and athleticism to generate deflections and force errant passes that led to transition layups.
“We like to game plan really hard every week and it doesn’t matter who we’re playing or what kind of game we’re playing,” said Byron guard Carson Buser, who totaled 10 points in the win. “We game planned really hard and we did a good job of learning their offensive sets and how we could attack their defense. Winning the sectional would be really special, especially for our seniors since our last two seasons didn’t end the way we wanted to. This is a special run.”
Riverdale’s Brody Clark scored all nine of his points in the first half, helping the Rams hang tough with the state-ranked Tigers, who are currently No. 7 in Class 2A in the AP Poll. Byron’s 32-25 halftime lead ballooned during the third quarter, where the Tigers held Riverdale to only three made field goals and led by as many as 19 points after multiple brief scoring runs.
Hiveley led all scorers with 21 points on Wednesday, converting a dribble-drive layup and sinking two free throws late in the fourth quarter to clinch the Byron victory. After the Tigers clanked six free throws in the first half, Byron settled in over the third and fourth quarter, where Buser went 4-for-4 and Newton went 3-for-4 down the stretch to help ice the Tiger win.
“They started coming back because we ran into some foul trouble, but I thought we managed that situation well,” Buser said. “They ran some different rotations that we hadn’t seen before, but we stuck around and we overcame our foul trouble by playing good defense at the end.”
Newton finished with 11 points, while Braylon Kilduff and Caden Considine each added five points for the Tigers, who outscored Riverdale 22-10 in the third quarter on Wednesday.
