Byron soars to 20-0 after disposing of Dixon in aggressive fashion
BYRON — As the pressure mounts, the No. 4-ranked and undefeated Byron Tigers just keep piling on wins.
Dixon sprinted into Byron on Tuesday night and jumped out to an early lead, but the Tigers used a balanced scoring attack and an aggressive full-court press to keep their record unscathed with a 67-51 win.
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Byron (20-0, 6-0 Big Northern Conference) next hits the road for Rockford Christian (15-5, 5-1) on Friday night in its last real test of the conference season. Tuesday night's game was another in the long line of big challenges for Byron down the stretch, and the Tigers came through again. And while Rockford Christian was losing 88-70 to Rock Falls on the same night, the Tigers were taking control on their home floor.
"It's not pressure to us; it's a privilege to play in front of such rowdy crowds," said senior forward Ryan Tucker, who finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds on Tuesday. "The fans really get us going, and this kind of crowd just gives us more mojo. We feed off that."
And they did Tuesday. After rallying for a buzzer-beating victory over Class 1A-state-ranked Pecatonica last week, which followed up a win over the NIC-10's Freeport and came just before a commanding win over the defending BNC champs from Lutheran, Byron is getting pushed by good teams — and pushing back even harder.
Sophomore power forward Caden Considine played more minutes and scored more points than he had all season, and he made a big difference in the paint for Byron. Considine had three straight buckets down low late in the second quarter as Byron surged ahead for good.
Dixon's 19-18 advantage with just over five minutes left in the second quarter was its last lead.
"We knew they had some big guys and they were a big strong team, so I just had to do my thing down there," said Considine, who had a career-high 15 points and a career-best 11 rebounds. "I wanted to get the hustle plays, and push them around a little bit. That's what we did."
Cason Newton added 14 points, Jack Hiveley chipped in with 12 and Carson Buser added nine for Byron, which showed off its balance by trading off buckets all night.
After Rockford Christian, Byron hosts Beecher, which is currently 24-0 on the season, in a non-conference game next Monday. After that, the Tigers have four games against teams with losing records.
"We've just found a way to make those runs, and get those wins," Byron head coach Matt Huels said. "We're trying not to put any pressure on ourselves with this undefeated thing... It's hard. Sure, it's hard. And these are 15- and 16- and 17-year-old kids, but they're handling it great.
"And it sure is fun."
Jay Taft is a Rockford Register Star sports reporter. Email him at jtaft@rrstar.com and follow him on Twitter at @JayTaft. Sign up for the Rockford High School newsletter at rrstar.com. Jay has covered a wide variety of sports, from the Chicago Bears to youth sports, since the turn of the century at the Register Star, and for over 30 years all together.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: 20-0 and still rolling; Byron boys just keep right on winning
