'We just keep grinding away': Byron's Ryan Tucker leads Tigers to super-sectional

MENDOTA — First it was a 20-0 start to the season, and now the Byron Tigers have soared into the IHSA's Elite 8 of boys basketball with the program's second-ever sectional title.

The Byron Tigers turned what was a close game early on with the Princeton Tigers into a rout with a 22-4 second-half run Friday night. Led by Ryan Tucker's 26-point performance, Byron hit cruise control down the stretch, finally hauling in the 59-43 victory to close out the Class 2A Mendota Sectional.

More Byron boys hoops: Here's how Byron used balanced attack to soar past Riverdale and into sectional finals

"We knew our run would be coming," said Tucker, who also led the way with seven rebounds, three steals and three blocked shots. "And heck, our best game is yet to come. Every game, we're still getting better and better and better."

Byron (29-2) advanced to Monday's 7 p.m. Sterling Super-Sectional showdown where it will take on Chicago Latin, the 43-42 winner of the Elmhurst Timothy Christian Sectional final over Chicago Christ the King. Latin has won 16 of 17 games, but may not have faced as aggressive a pressure defense as the one Byron showcased on Friday.

"We finally turned our defense up a notch in this one, and we came back with the mentality that it was time to shut this game down," said another of the big senior power forwards for Byron, Braylon Kilduff. "We just got fired up there when our full-court pressure did its thing. It's just an intensity thing, and it makes it hard for teams to keep up with us sometimes. It did tonight."

Princeton, which was led by Noah LaPorte's 13 points and Daniel Sousa's 12, scored only four points in the third quarter as Byron took control. In one stretch, they turned it over on five straight possessions — and Tucker finished it off with fast-break layups in four of those. Cason Newton picked LaPorte's pocket at midcourt and dished it ahead to Tucker for the reverse finger-roll layup late in the fourth for Byron's largest lead at 56-34.

It was Byron's eighth win in a row after they suffered their only two losses of the season (sandwiched around another win over Princeton a little less than a month ago).

Jack Hiveley added 16 points and five assists for Byron on Friday, and Cason Newton added six points, six steals and six assists.

Now, these Tigers find themselves one win away from their first trip to the IHSA boys basketball state tournament. The state tourney is held in Champaign this year, with the 2A semifinals scheduled for 3:45 p.m. Thursday, with the championship game slated for 1 p.m. March 9.

"When I was a sophomore we were like an 11-win team, but even back then, I knew, and I dreamt of this moment right here," Tucker said. "I knew, once this program got going, we'd be just fine, and we'd be in this situation right here, where we're getting nets and plaques."

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: Byron pounds on Princeton and soars into Elite 8 for second time ever