Beyer settles score with Enochs in Battle of Sylvan Avenue

Beyer High School’s boys basketball team turned up the defensive pressure in the second half Friday, limiting Enochs to nine points after the intermission, and cruised to a 63-40 victory to gain sole possession of second place in the Modesto Metro Conference.

The Battle of Sylvan Avenue – so named because the schools sit less than two miles apart on Sylvan – had a little extra sizzle for the Patriots (18-3, 7-2 MMC) following a 46-43 loss to the Eagles (14-8, 6-3) on Jan. 7.

Tied 31-31 at halftime, the teams traded baskets in the opening 40 seconds of the third quarter. That would be the last points for Enochs until senior C.J. Jimmy put in a driving layup at the buzzer to snap an 18-0 Patriots run.

The Eagles trailed 51-35 entering the final eight minutes and again had another long cold spell in the fourth quarter.

“They did a great job defensively in the second half,” Enochs coach Randy Rubio said. “In the second half, they shot a lot of free throws, and you can’t defend anybody at the free-throw line.

“They’re not 20 points better than we are, even though they beat us by 20 tonight.”

Beyer won by 23 in its gym and the Eagles won by three in theirs, and the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle. When you consider the Pats lost to MMC behemoth Modesto Christian by just seven, while Enochs was blown out by 52, it’s clear Beyer is the better squad.

“We’re supposed to beat this team,” said senior guard Jake Polack, who led all scorers with 24 points. “That loss earlier in the season stung us a little bit. It was good to come out and beat them.”

If Beyer was supposed to beat the Eagles, it sure didn’t look like it early.

The teams traded baskets at the outset and were tied 5-5 in the first three minutes. Moments later, Beyer guard Georgie Dancer picked up his second foul and sat for the remainder of the stanza.

At that point, Beyer dropped into a zone defense and stayed in it for the rest of the half.

“I hate playing zone,” said Patriots coach Kyle McKim, who likes to play at break-neck speed. “But we picked up five or six fouls in the first couple of minutes, and we dropped into a zone just to survive.”

More than limiting the number of fouls, it seemed to calm the Patriots.

“I think it helped us ... settled us down a bit,” Polack said. “We wanted to make them shoot from the outside – except for (Matt) Page – because they were posting up our guards.”

As much as Beyer wanted to limit Page’s attempts from the outside, the senior guard who averages 17 per game was on target early, totaling 11 points in the first half.

“They did that last time we played,” Rubio said. “We were up early, and then they went to zone.

“Tonight, it slowed them down and it slowed us down.”

The Eagles will head down Coffee Road and visit Downey on Wednesday, while Beyer will be at Davis.

This story was originally published January 30, 2015 at 11:32 PM with the headline "Beyer settles score with Enochs in Battle of Sylvan Avenue."