Byrd knocks off East Ascension
GONZALES — Coaches don’t hesitate to break out the old “whole new season” cliché at playoff time.
Byrd showed exactly why Tuesday night.
The underdog Yellow Jackets stunned eighth-seeded East Ascension 82-71 in a Class 5A first-round game, halting the Spartans’ season after a 15-game winning streak to finish the regular campaign.
Anthony Gaines led Byrd (14-14) with 25 points — 16 in the fourth quarter — as the Yellow Jackets won their fifth game in a row.
East Ascension’s season ended at 24-7 and with most of the players and veteran coach Kenny Almond shell shocked by their abrupt postseason exit.
“You always hate for this day to come, but especially after we had such a good season,” Almond said after the Spartans won District 5-5A with a 10-0 record.
“But (Byrd) came out and played awfully well. When they rebounded, they seemed to have two guys on the glass every time we took a shot. And their press got us out of sync. We were a little too tentative in the first half.”
EA led 14-7 in the first period when the Jackets uncorked an 8-0 burst to take the lead. Devonte Fisher helped the Spartans keep the lead after one quarter when he hit a follow shot, but things were about to get ugly.
Byrd coach Rusty Johnson started mixing in two or three reserves at a time, and that took its toll.
The Yellow Jackets followed their late first-quarter surge with a 10-3 blitz to open the second quarter and bolt in front 25-19.
After Jamal Steward hit a 3-pointer to pull the Spartans within 27-24, but they went the next 3½ minutes with only one point as the visitors built their first double-digit lead of the night.
The second half was more of the same as Gaines and Byrd center Micah Reese triggered a wave of energy that kept the deficit around 8-to-10 points.
Spartans center Ja’Cardo Hawkins did his best to keep his team close, crashing the backboards on the way to a 17-point, 19-rebound night.
“Ja’Cardo worked as hard as he could and did a good job,” Almond said. “But it seemed like they always had more hands going for the ball.”
And much more energy.
The Yellow Jackets seemed to come up with every loose ball, especially in their press, which EAHS never completely solved.
“We wanted to press the ball and play defense all over the court, and we did a good job with that,” Johnson said. “We kept fresh bodies out there as much as we could, and I think that made a difference.”
Especially in the final quarter when EAHS struggled to erase the entire deficit.
A DeAundre Smith 3-pointer got the Spartans within 56-52, and Hawkins hit a follow shot moments later to close the gap to 57-54.
Every time EAHS was poised to draw even, though, Gaines had an answer as he scored Byrd’s first 14 points in the initial 3:26 of the quarter – none more damaging than a three-point play at the 4:57 juncture that fouled Smith out with 19 points.
The Jackets’ lead ballooned to 74-56, but Ascension had one last gasp with eight unanswered points, fueled by three straight Byrd turnovers. The Spartans had a chance to get closer when Hawkins swiped another pass, but Gaines stole the ball back and provided a thunderous exclamation point slam-dunk that nudged the lead back to 79-69.
Javaughn Williams added 16 points for EAHS. Milton scored 14 for Byrd, while Lott added 12 and Reese scored 10 and matched Gaines with 11 rebounds.