Beyer basketball star Georgie Dancer will miss the rest of the season

Georgie Dancer has played his final game in a Beyer High jersey.

The basketball star suffered a season-ending knee injury during a Modesto Metro Conference game against Downey on Jan. 22.

According to reports, Dancer was injured during a drive to the basket midway through the first quarter and left the court on a gurney.

The Patriots went on to win the game 61-33 but have lost more in the wake of that victory. Though the severity of Dancer’s injury isn’t known, Beyer coach Kyle McKim said he will miss the final six games of the regular season and the postseason, for which the Patriots (16-5) are a virtual lock.

Beyer is comfortably in second place in the MMC at 7-1 and ranked No. 3 in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II power rankings.

The decision to sit the returning all-conference point guard didn’t come easily.

McKim has developed a close bond with Dancer, believed to be the first boys basketball player in program history to earn a full-ride Division I scholarship.

Dancer will enroll at Sacramento State in the fall. He’s the third boys basketball player from the Stanislaus District in the last two years to commit to the Hornets, joining freshman Jeff Wu of Modesto Christian and redshirt freshman Joshua Patton of Sierra.

Rather than risk another injury in the pursuit of high school glory, McKim chose to protect Dancer’s future. He said the Dancer family will meet with an orthopedist in the coming days.

“Him and I have been doing this for four years. All coaches and players are close, but he and I ... it’s been a long road together,” said McKim, moved to emotion by the injury. “He’s still got a great future ahead of him. He’ll miss a few games during his senior year, but he still gets the opportunity to play at the next level.”

The Patriots have forged on.

Beyer used a 25-point third quarter to distance itself from Gregori on Wednesday 63-53, and will face a tough test at Enochs (12-8, 4-4) on Friday.

Three-point specialist Brian Perry shouldered the scoring load with 22 points against the Jaguars, while seniors Tanner Gentry (16) and Ryan Frakes (10) also reached double figures.

Frakes becomes the voice and emotional rock for the Patriots. The point guard was an all-MMC honorable mention last year.

“We have kids that are winners at the end of the day,” said McKim, who led Beyer to 24 wins and the second round of the D-II tournament. “They know how to win when something bad happens. We don’t run from adversity. They’re not afraid of it. When something bad happens, they know that’s when they find out about themselves.”

Dancer’s void will be filled by committee. Freshman Dom Dancer and junior Jaden Cobb have played significant minutes opposite Frakes in the Patriots’ two point guard system.

Sophomore Ben Polack, the younger brother of former all-MMC guard Jake Polack, has also been promoted from the junior varsity team. Polack was averaging close to a triple double for a junior varsity team that has won 17 of its 20 games, according to McKim.

Originally pegged as Beyer’s backcourt of the future, Dom Dancer and Ben Polack have been fast-tracked by injury.

“Both of their brothers were All-District picks and they’re just as talented as their brothers,” McKim said. “Everyone will get a glimpse of what we’ll look like in the future.”

Though the personnel has changed, McKim insists the team goals remain intact. Beyer will continue to hunt conference and section titles.

“They know the situation. We have to keep rolling. It doesn’t change our goals. We want to be successful,” McKim said. “This won’t be a ‘Let’s win for Georgie’ campaign. We’ll win for ourselves and he’s a part of that group.

“They’re motivated to keep this going. If anything, they have more of a chip on their shoulder to show we’re more than a one-man show. We’ll do this together.”

This story was originally published January 28, 2016 at 5:29 PM with the headline "Beyer basketball star Georgie Dancer will miss the rest of the season."