Byron 73 Stewartville 56: Five Things to Know

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Byron Bears picked up a big top ten win last night just a few days after losing to the top team in Class AAA by a score. The Bears look like they are for real.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>One. A Huge Win</strong>. How big you ask? 1) It was Byron's first win over the Tigers in eight games. 2) The Tigers are a team with wins over St. Paul Johnson and Mound-Westonka, both are teams that have been in the top ten, 3) It's a Hiawatha Valley win which now means Cannon Falls (a top ten team who beat Byron), Lake City, Byron and Stewartville are all 5-1 in league play, 4) it's a section win which should push Byron ahead of Stewartville in seeding scenarios for the moment, and 5) it's a win among top ten teams and Byron did it in controlling fashion.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Two. Outstanding ball movement = Rhythm = Three Pointers Made</strong>. Moving the basketball a ton without many dribbles to create a comfortable rhythm. It's amazing thing! College teams and NBA teams should try it! I had Byron for 19 assists on 24 field goal makes, that's an excellent number. [player_tooltip player_id='1575327' first='Max' last='Dearborn'], Will Brien, and [player_tooltip player_id='1560862' first='Fisher' last='Kruckeberg'] EACH hit four three-pointers last night and they often took those shots in space because of really good transition offense or because of really good passing in their halfcourt offense. This is an unselfish team. I believe nine guys played in the rotation when when the game was still competitive and three of them had more assists than shot taken! And that includes Minnesota football signed [player_tooltip player_id='1939373' first='Colin' last='Hansen'], the 6'8 big guy who grabbed eight rebounds and dished out three assists from the post (and took only two shots). </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Three. Byron D was good too</strong>. Stewartville has been winning games because they have a full rotation of guys that also play team basketball, the problem last night was their best two players, [player_tooltip player_id='1198613' first='Parker' last='Wangen'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1476739' first='Caleb' last='Bancroft'], shot a combined 8 of 26 from the field and scored a combined 24 points. That is not that far off their regular 29 points a game (a couple makes) but the Tiger offense didn't develop it's normal quality of look which led to them depending on their top pair for some tougher shots which upped their attempts. The next six guys in the rotation usually combined for a balanced 38-39 points but Byron's team defense held them to 30 points on 8 of 25 shooting. Overall the percentages were just not there for the Tigers to have a winning night.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Four. Max Buckets</strong>. [player_tooltip player_id='1575327' first='Max' last='Dearborn'] is about a 6'5 guard with good length on the wing who has as pretty of a shooting stroke as you will find. He is more than just a shooter as he has a scorer's feel too and you can really see that is he starting to feel as comfortable as he has been since being injured a bit of a time back. Dearborn hit four three-pointers scoring 24 points on his 6 of 13 shooting overall while also going 8 of 10 at the foul line. Throw in eight rebounds and it was a very good night for the Northwestern (IA) committed wing. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Five. Other Standouts</strong>. Junior Will Kruckeberg and Senior Will Brien both hit four threes last night as well with Will scoring 18 points on 7 of 14 shooting, and Kruckeberg scoring 19 on 6 of 12 shooting. Both rebounded the ball well and moved the basketball well. They are a symbol of both the team's scoring balance and the team's all around skill. I am not going to predict that this team is not right there with the top six contenders (BSM, TG, Mankato East, Alex, DeLaSalle, and Orono) but they are closer to that lead pack than I thought and it has a lot to do with the balanced skill and team basketball the Bears look to be playing. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->