By: Mike Rose
LETCHWORTH, N.Y. — The Byron-Bergen Bees are still buzzing after a second-half offensive explosion powered them past Notre Dame-Batavia, 67-60, in the Class C sub-regionals. The Bees trailed 30-22 at the break before posting 27 points in the third quarter and never looking back down the stretch.
In the first half, Class C2 MVP Braedyn Chambry entered early foul trouble. The Bees led 19-17 when Chambry was forced to the bench with four first-half points and the Irish took full advantage. Notre Dame closed the first half on a 13-3 run capped off by Jay Antinore’s three-pointer from half-court, sending the Irish to the locker room ahead by seven.
“We gave up some buckets but we kind of stemmed it and we went into halftime saying we really couldn’t do much worse than we did in the second quarter,” Byron-Bergen head coach Roxanne Noeth said. “I mean, I didn’t make any adjustments I just said we had to defensive rebound and we had to run our offense better.”
“We were only in the locker room for three minutes because coach didn’t have much to say,” Byron-Bergen’s Brody Baubie said. “We knew what we had to do and came out in the third quarter and executed it.”
The Bees came out of the locker room buzzing. Colin Martin, Baubie and Chambry combined for 22 in the third quarter as B-B opened on an 18-5 run. It seemed the Irish had no answer for Byron-Bergen’s ball movement.
“We knew we had to get on a run and once we get there, what are you gonna do to stop us,” Martin said. “We got the big guy back in, we were hitting threes from the corner and up top. We were running our offense well and I feel like it’s hard stop to us that way.”
Byron-Bergen took a four-point lead into the fourth quarter and the offense kept rolling. Jaden Sherwood tried to will the Irish to stay within striking distance with seven of his game-high 23 points coming in the fourth. A pair of Jay Antinore free-throws followed by a three-pointer from Ryan Fitzpatrick cut the margin to five with under a minute to play. Baubie would connect on 1-for-2 at the line but Notre Dame would turn it over on the ensuing possession. Brendan Pimm split a pair at the line but it would be Chambry diving on the floor to keep possession after the missed free throw and allow the Bees to watch the final seconds tick away.
Martin tallied 22 points to lead the Bees while Chambry finished with 17. Baubie added 16 points and Pimm had 11 for B-B. Jay Antinore would finish with 16 points for the Irish and Chase Antinore scored 10.
Byron-Bergen advances to the Section V Class C regional qualifier against C1 champion Lyons. It will be the Bees’ fourth game in eight days.
“We got to recover really hard tomorrow, cookie and yoga that’s what we do, and then we just have to keep coming out with this same mindset,” Chambry said. “We can’t let anyone stand in our way and if they are we gotta go through them.”
The game will be played at Bloomfield High School on Wednesday with tip-off scheduled for 7 p.m.