No. 1 Whitney steals ‘team of destiny’ mantle from No. 6 Beyer in D-II final

Playing in its first Sac-Joaquin Section final, the Beyer High boys basketball team didn’t run into a buzzsaw. The Patriots collided with another chasing its place in school history.

Alas, tournament rules mandate there can be only one team of destiny.

On Friday evening, Whitney took top honors in Division II, capturing its first section title in its first appearance, 60-38, at the Spanos Center on the campus of Pacific.

The Wildcats controlled the game with long scoring spurts to close the first and third quarters, and attacked the Modesto Metro Conference champions with precision passing, patience and a lethal inside-out game.

Whitney erased a four-point deficit with an 11-0 run that stretched into the second quarter and then announced its intentions with a 14-5 flurry in the third quarter.

“It’s an incredible run for these guys,” Beyer coach Kyle McKim said outside a quiet visitor’s locker room. “To beat three league champions to get to this point – Patterson was a league champion, Rio Linda was a league champion and Burbank was a league champion and the No. 1-ranked team in our section by MaxPreps. It’s an incredible accomplishment just to get to this point.

“We had trouble taking out one more team ranked ahead of us, but I think it gives us confidence going into NorCals that we can play with a lot of teams.”

Forced to summon another comeback, its third in three games, the Patriots had little left in the tank. Beyer was held to season-low 38 points on 13-of-40 shooting.

“They’re a very well-coached team and there’s a reason why they’re the No. 1 seed in the tournament,” McKim said. “They defended incredibly well and we had trouble putting the ball in the hoop in the second half.”

Leading scorer and school record holder Brian Perry, so creative and clutch all season, struggled to find a rhythm. Whitney face-guarded the Modesto Metro co-MVP all evening.

Perry scored nine points in the first quarter on three 3s, but had no field goals the rest of the way. He finished with 11 points, 10 below his season average.

“On my end, there were ways we should have got him the ball in spots,” McKim said. “But at the end of the day, the ball just didn’t go into the hoop.”

His frustration bubbled to the surface at the free-throw line in the fourth quarter. After missing the front-end, he pumped his fists and looked toward the rafters.

Help wasn’t coming.

“It’s just frustrating losing. I don’t really care about how I played,” Perry said. “If you come out with a 20-point loss, that’s never fun. We just didn’t really execute. They hit a lot of shots and we didn’t. We didn’t hit many 3s, and in games like this, you have to hit shots to stay close.”

Sixth-seeded Beyer advanced to the first section final in program history by rocking the Division II bracket. The Patriots popped No. 3 Rio Linda and No. 2 Burbank, rallying from a double-digit deficit in each game.

With those wins, the Patriots joined Grace Davis and Modesto High as the only Modesto City Schools boys basketball teams to reach a section final, and the first since the Panthers clawed their way into the 2005 Division I final versus Tokay.

Modesto was the last Modesto City Schools program to win a section title, going back to back in 1983 and ’84.

Before the game, Perry talked about the buzz back home. For years now, this weekend in March has been reserved for the city’s parochial powers, and true to form, Central Catholic warmed the arena at Pacific with a thrilling comeback in the Division IV final.

However, Beyer, under the direction of McKim, has begun to steal back headlines. The Patriots have won 20 or more games in each of his three seasons and qualified for the upcoming CIF State Regional Tournament.

“A lot of people come up and tell you good luck and congratulate you on all that you’ve accomplished so far,” said Perry, the program’s single-season record holder for scoring and 3s. “It’s been big and pretty exciting.”

The teams traded runs in the first quarter.

Perry knocked down 3s on opposite wings to shoot Beyer out in front, 6-2, but the Wildcats answered with an 11-0 run.

Tyler Austin gave away six inches to Beyer’s Kris Fore, but managed to score twice over the 6-foot-7 junior on the low block. Austin’s hook with 1:17 left in the quarter gave Whitney a lead it would never relinquish.

Matt Willis (12 points) kissed a 3-pointer off the glass from the wing to make it 23-16. Willis knocked down four 3-pointers and Jashon Lewis another, giving the rim-crashing Wildcats balance and a 32-26 halftime lead.

Jaden Cobb scored the first nine points of the second quarter for the Patriots, who saw two starters go the bench early in foul trouble. Deangelo Dancer and Dylan Weltmer, two senior starters, picked up three fouls.

Cobb finished with 11 points. Dancer led the Patriots with seven rebounds, while Ben Polack had five assists.

Lewis led a balanced Wildcat attack with 23 points and Austin had nine points and eight rebounds, including five on the offensive glass.

“We’ll get rid of it quick,” Perry said. “We always bounce back. … We’ll be back. We’ll be fine.”

This story was originally published March 3, 2017 at 10:29 PM with the headline "No. 1 Whitney steals ‘team of destiny’ mantle from No. 6 Beyer in D-II final."