William Byrd HS, Vinton, VA -The Northside Vikings got off the bus making baskets and jumped out to an early lead, 21-8, over William Byrd. Coach Bill Pope’s Vikings shot seventy five percent inside the arc in that first quarter. That, along with their smothering defensive pressure, led to the early lead. Viking full court pressure can be overwhleming at times. Byrd Coach Josh Cunningham expected it to some degree. “You know that going in. They have a couple guys who enjoy doing that, which is rare, and it seems like they always feed off of that.” That deficit for the Terriers created an uphill battle all night. Credit Cunningham’s troops though. 
They fought their way back to within six in the second quarter, and seven in the third. In the end, it was just too much Viking offense to overcome. Coach Pope didn’t overlook the Terriers though.
Northside G/F 10 Ayrion Journiette goes strong to the bucket
“They are a very good team. No question. We knew we’d have to play well and we had some really good stretches. We had a great start and that’s a little bit of how we play, in spurts.” Northside was led by normal cast of characters. G/F 10 Ayrion Journiette, G/F 11 Cole Lawrence and G 22 Sidney Webb combined for forty-three of the team’s sixty two total points. Journiette led all scorers with eighteen, while Lawrence contributed sixteen and Webb tossed in nine for the Vikes. G/F Jamison Foley scored ten, all in the second half.
Byrd F/C 34 Jamie Cawley works the baseline
Byrd was led by F/C 34 Jamie Cawley and F 30 Cameron Richardson with fifteen and thirteen points respectively. Point Guard 4 Trevor Ruble contributed ten. Cawley scored nine points in the third quarter alone to lead Byrd’s comeback attempt. Northside came out of top in the end, 62-49.
Byrd G 4 Trevor Ruble goes up for two
First Half –
Northside jumped out to a quick lead, and for awhile everything around the basket went in for the Vikes. On top of that, Northside took double the amount of shots, eighteen to nine, as their opponent. Numbers don’t lie. Cunningham knew that his Terriers couldn’t dig too deep a hole, too early. “Anytime you play Northside you are going to have to eliminate turnovers… the name of the game is eliminating offensive rebounds, turnovers, second chance points, and we did a decent job of that outside the first five minutes.”
G/F 11 Lawrence Cole for Northside goes up in a crowd
The Vikings speed and quickness was evident. G 11 Cole had four field goals in that opening barrage. Byrd, on the other hand, didn’t score their first bucket until 5:41 was left on the clock. G 4 Ruble kept the Terriers around with two long range threes. Coach Pope took notice of the boys from Vinton, “they shoot it well. Found some guys in the corners and they knocked them down.”
Terrier F 20 Tyler Martin goes up against Viking F 23 Jamison Foley
The second quarter, Northside continued to keep the Terriers at arms length.
Byrd bounded back though, and when G 10 Ethan Tinsley hit a three with 2:47 left in the quarter that cut Northside’s lead to 23-17. The Vikings answered, but Terrier F 34 Cawley kept pace with two free throws at the 2:26 mark. That’s when Northside stepped on the gas again for one of their “spurts.” Seven unanswered points later, Northside led 32-19 going into the locker room. The Vikings work in the lane was key. G/F 10 Journiette hit two floaters in the paint and made two free throws in a less than a minute.
Byrd’s defense springs to action
Second Half –
There was no give up in William Byrd. That’s a testament to Coach Cunningham’s style.
F 34 Cawley got the home team back to within ten at 43-33 with a bucket with 2:15 left in the quarter. And the Senior worked to get two three point plays, the old fashioned way – ‘a bucket and the foul,’ twice to draw Byrd to within seven again at 46-39 with :43 left in the third. Enter Viking F 23 Jamison Foley.
Viking F 23 Jamison Foley flies through the air
The 6’3 Senior hit an acrobatic, body twisting, driving bucket with only :04 left to push the Viking lead back out to nine, 48-39. That was a momentum stealer for the Vikes.
The final quarter was a battle, but Byrd just couldn’t enough balls to go in and get the stops they needed. F 30 Richardson made two big threes from each side of the arc. The last one made it 59-49 Northside, with 2:23 left in the game, but that proved to be Byrd’s last points. Coach Cunningham knew his team would need to believe to get it done. “We talk to our guys about believing it before you see it. They saw it later on in the game. If we would have had that mentality early on I think it could’ve been different, but Northside’s tough. You have to have to play a good game against them.”
Northside goes a hundred miles an hour out on the court. It is that style that can lead to big momentum swings. Coach Pope encourages this team to push it, ““What we want to do is pressure as much as we can on both ends.”
William Byrd Center 34 Cawley rises above the crowd
The veteran coach also looks at each opponent closely, but there are certain things his team wants to get done. “It’s late in the year but early in the season.
Early in the season we like to concentrate on what we do, and we are going to tweak it some for every opponent. But we are basically coming in with what we want to do.” What the Vikings want to do is win and that is what they left Vinton with, another “W.”
Northside (4-0) will take on Hidden Valley (1-3) away on Wednesday in their next affair. The Vikings blew out the Titans 76-34 on January 15th. Byrd (1-3) entertains Glenvar (1-3). The Highlanders beat the Terriers in their first outing 74-63.
Northside– Journiette 18pts (8-FGs, 2/3 FTs) Cole 16pts (6-FG, 1-3ptr, 1/2 FTs) Foley 10pts (3-FG, 1-3ptr, 1/2 FTs) Webb 9pts (3-FG, 1-3ptr) Bishop 4pts (2-FGs) Slash 1pts (1/3 FT) Abshire 1pts (1/2 FT) Smith 1pts (1/2 FT)
William Byrd – Cawley 15pts (4FGs, 1-3ptr, 4/5 FTs) Richardson 13pts (3FGs, 2-3ptr, 1/2 FTs) Ruble 10pts (2FGs, 2-3ptrs) Tinsley 4pts (1-3ptr, 1/2 FT) Martin 4pts (1FG, 2/3 FTs) Williams 3pts (1FG, 1/1 FT)
