Hot shooting leads Enochs basketball over Beyer for the first time in six years
Enochs coach Craig Bernardi has the utmost respect for Beyer coach Kyle McKim. Bernardi credits McKim for helping him find his way when he first got the Enochs head coaching job.
So when Beyer (5-3) and Enochs (7-4) play, there is an extra layer added to the years-long rivalry between the two schools separated by just about two miles on Sylvan Avenue.
After losing to Beyer in the championship of the Modesto City Classic, Enochs got its revenge in the latest rendition of the Sylvan Rivalry. The Eagles went into Beyer’s gym and made eight three-pointers en route to a 67-62 road victory. The win extends Enochs’ win streak to three games.
“I have the most respect for Coach Mckim,” said Bernardi. “When I first got the job at Enochs, he was the first one to really see me through and help me out and give me on my feet.
“At the same time, he wouldn’t have it any other way to where we both really want to win this game.”
McKim has dominated the rivalry over the last six years, winning 10 straight dating back to January 2015.
“He’s won a lot,” Bernardi said. “That streak was on everyone’s mind. I made sure my team knew what was going on.”
Isaiah Toma finished with a team-high 17 points and drained five threes in his first win against the Patriots.
“This is my second my second time playing Beyer,” Toma said. “ I definitely expected a huge crowd, just their crowd and our crowd going back and forth. I knew that if our team could hit big shots ... that it would definitely change the environment in our favor.”
The Eagles started hot, moving the ball through the Patriots’ 2-3 zone, connecting on three 3’s in the first quarter.
“When we started hitting those threes, you saw the defense kind of creep out,” Bernardi said. “It really got an inside out game going. It changed the whole game for us. Especially when we see him go in a couple times. I think everyone starts feeling it.”
Said Toma on his hot start: “I just felt a momentum going and I was always just like, ‘I’m just gonna keep shooting until they till they don’t drop.’”
With the Patriots up by four more than midway through the second quarter, Toma connected on a three, bringing the Eagles within one, 24-23 and forcing a Beyer timeout.
The Eagles went into halftime ahead 32-27.
When the Eagles needed to stop they connected on a three. Their lead swelled to as much as 10 points with 6 minutes, 24 seconds left in the fourth quarter as they never gave up the lead in the fourth quarter.
“Usually, we’ll have three great quarters and that fourth quarter, we will kind of shut down,” Toma said. “We said we have to be a four-quarter team, we can’t be a three-quarter team. We worked on it all week in practice and I think we really came over a big hill that we were trying to go over this whole season.
Beyer’s Gio Primofiore continued his stellar senior season, posting a team-high 20 points, five rebounds and two steals.
The Patriots have lost three straight and look to get back in the win column on Wednesday, Dec. 22 against Ripon (2-6). The Eagles travel to Ceres (6-1) for a non-league game on Tuesday, Dec. 21.
