Bryan McCullough has played basketball with Dre Byrd since elementary school so you’d
think there would be nothing Byrd could do to amaze his 6-foot-6 North Rowan teammate.Think again.
Wednesday night in Catawba
College’s Goodman Gymnasium, McCullough was left shaking his head one more time while
watching Rowan County’s most dazzling point guard.
Rowan County’s “Say Hey
Dre” spun and zipped his way to 19 points, 10 assists and four steals, all of which
elicited 100 or so oohs and aahs from a capacity crowd of 3,500 fans.
He was super. He was
scintillating. He was sensational.
And he was the main reason North
Rowan handed the nationally-ranked West Rowan Falcons their first defeat of the season,
73-64 in the semifinals of the Sam Moir Christmas Tournament.
It’s almost frightening for a
defense to see Byrd coming downcourt, performing magic with the ball, bobbing his head,
wagging his tongue — and wearing a perpetual smile.
“There’s something about
that dribble I like a lot,” McCullough grinned.
“He’s got that little
move where pauses for just a second and he’s gone,” said North coach Kelly
Everhart. “Before a big man can react, he has the ball on the glass.”
Case in point. After the
Cavaliers’ double-digit lead had shrunk to 57-51, most of the Cav crowd was fearing
another West rally for a win, similar to the last time the two teams hooked up. Somebody
had to do something. West was turning up the defensive pressure
Say hey! Give it to Dre!
Byrd, all 5-foot-6 of him, was
working the ball as if it were on a yo-yo. He saw 6-foot-6 Frankie Williams waiting for
him in the lane.
Does he pull it back out? Does he
fear a man a foot taller?
Byrd did his little move that
Everhart loves so much and poof — Williams was left stunned as Byrd zoomed past for a
layup.
“He’s been doing things
like that since the seventh grade,” McCullough said.
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On most teams, coaches and players
talk about senior leadership. At North Rowan, they talk about Byrd, their junior leader.
When Byrd was a freshman, he had
Everhart for a health class. One day, Everhart’s assignment was to write a paper
entitled, “All about me.”
“In his paper, I remember Dre
writing he was a leader who didn’t mind accepting the blame when he made a mistake
and didn’t mind encouraging his teammates to play hard,” Everhart said.
“That really impressed me that a freshman would make comments like that.
“I’m just thankful
he’s the leader for us and no one else.”
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A leader is not self-centered and
Byrd proved once again Wednesday that he is the consummate point guard.
“We don’t get caught up
in stats,” Byrd said. “I try to get my teammates involved instead. I’ll get
my points on fast breaks.”
And North Rowan’s fast breaks
— along with West’s Scooter Sherrill — is why one of the largest crowds to
see a Sam Moir Christmas Tournament game (3,500) was on hand, despite a 4:30 start.
Every spurt the Cavs had was
propelled by Byrd, who either fed McCullough and Marcus Lawing for easy buckets or swooped
in himself.
“He starts rolling and
everbody just falls in with him,” said Chris Phillips, who put West away with six
straight free throws down the stretch.
“It’s something God gave
me,” Byrd shrugged. “I can’t remember when I didn’t play basketball.
It’s my No. 1 sport. I love it.”
With a grin, he added,
“Don’t let Coach (Roger) Secreast (North’s football coach) know I said
that.”
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After Byrd’s shake-and-bake
on Williams, West still got within 59-56. Panic time for North Rowan?
Hardly.
“Coach has stressed from Day
1 to keep pounding the ball when we’re up. We don’t think about losing. If
we’re up by 15 or down by 15, we’re playing our pace.”
In other words, Byrd was in his
element. He was all over the court, talking, waving to the crowd and simply doing his
thing with that delicious dribble. Nestles wishes it had his type of
“Quik-ness.”
Once, he was triple-teamed, spun
away and slashed to the basket. West’s defensive whiz Terris Sifford tried to guard
Byrd but it was Byrd who whizzed past the Falcons.
“It’s war out there but
I always try to have fun,” he said.
Fun for Byrd is noticing a
defensive player too close. That’s when his eyes light up. It’s like the spider
who says, “Come into my web.”
“Anytime I feel pressure, I
think I can take my man,” he said. “The best way to guard me is not to guard
me.”
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If it wasn’t for Sherrill,
who had 23 points, Byrd would be the county’s premier player and North the premier
team. At least, now, after so many consecutive losses to the Falcons, Byrd and the Cavs
have proven something not only to area fans but to themselves.
“Sweet revenge,” Byrd
said. “If West is ranked in the nation and we can play with them, we should be ranked
too. We don’t fear anybody. We want to play the best.”
North will play the current best
tonight when 12-0 Davie County meets the Cavs for the Moir title.
Davie is big. Davie can score.
Davie is confident.
But War Eagle coach Jim Young
knows that if his team is to remain unbeaten, he must impress upon his players one simple
rule:
“Say hey, you better stop
Dre.”
If Davie doesn’t, Byrd’s
shaking-and-baking may leave the War Eagles doing the same thing that McCullough has done
since youth league: shaking their heads.
Stay tuned.
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Ronnie Gallagher is the sports
editor of the Post. |
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