Enochs rises up to beat Beyer in Battle of Sylvan Avenue

Just call Enochs High’s boys basketball team the Kings of Sylvan Avenue.

The Eagles used a solid defensive effort to defeat Beyer 46-43 in an early-season biggie at Enochs High on Wednesday.

The Eagles have had an up and down season, and were 9-5 record heading into Wednesday’s Modesto Metro Conference matchup against rival Beyer, located just a couple of miles east on Sylvan.

Beyer, meanwhile, had sprinted to a 12-1 start and was widely regarded as the “best of the rest” in the MMC since newcomer, and state powerhouse, Modesto Christian is a mortal lock to win the conference title.

“I told my team if we play (Beyer) like we have the last six or seven, we’ll lose by 20,” said Enochs coach Randy Rubio. “That’s the honest truth.

“But I also said if we go out and play hard and play like we’ve shown glimpses of this year, we can compete with them.”

Beyer likes to get up and down the floor in a hurry, pushing the pace with its four-guard set. But Enochs slowed the tempo and turned up the defensive intensity.

“They didn’t shoot as well as they usually do,” Rubio said. “I’d like to think our defense had a little something to do with that. They weren’t as wide open as they normally are.”

Patriots coach Kyle McKim agreed.

“They played great defense; all credit to them,” McKim said. “They kept us out of the paint and made us shoot. And they didn’t let us get out and run.”

Enochs may have been aided by playing Riverbank two days earlier.

“I think it helped us that Riverbank and Beyer run similar offenses,” Rubio said. “Against Riverbank, we were down by 18 and then came back to beat them by eight. All of sudden, we started playing defense in that game.

“For us, it’s got to start with defense. I told the guys if you don’t give the effort on defense, you’ll look awful; if you do, you can compete with good teams.”

The victory moves Enochs into a tie for first atop the MMC with the Crusaders at 2-0. The Patriots fall into a tie for third with Modesto at 1-1.

MMC-CCC – The annual MMC-CCC Girls Basketball Challenge will be held Saturday at Buhach Colony High School in Atwater.

The action tips off at 10:30 a.m., with a new game slated to start every 90 minutes. The MMC’s last place team from 2014 is matched against the Central California Conference’s last-place finisher, and the progression continues until the reigning league champs square off in the main event.

The opener features Modesto vs. El Capitan, followed by Johansen vs. Turlock, Downey vs. Pitman, Beyer vs. Golden Valley, Davis vs. Atwater, Gregori vs. Buhach Colony, and Enochs vs. Merced at 7:30.

Merced’s El Capitan High, a member of the Western Athletic Conference, is being brought in to give the CCC a seventh team.

MC braces for St. Mary’s – The MMC’s newest member, Modesto Christian, doesn’t have a spot in the MMC-CCC Challenge, but that OK. The Crusaders will be challenged plenty when they visit St. Mary’s (Stockton) on Saturday.

The Rams are ranked No. 2 in the state by Cal-Hi Sports, while the Crusaders, who were ranked 13th in last week’s poll, dropped out after a 63-51 loss to James Logan (Union City).

Modesto Christian lost to St. Mary’s 85-71 last season on its way to the CIF Division III state championship. Two years ago, the Rams overpowered Modesto Christian 84-24.

This story was originally published January 8, 2015 at 8:39 PM with the headline "Enochs rises up to beat Beyer in Battle of Sylvan Avenue."