In a meeting of cross-town rivals, Elba took down Byron-Bergen, 55-43.
The visiting Lancers used a 15-1 run, 11-1 to end the first half, to pull away from the Bees in a Genesee Region League matchup.
Elba, missing some players, was forced to insert new pieces into the starting lineup. One of those players was Dan Scott, who had a huge game, finishing with a career-high 25 points in the victory.
“It was a good time for him to step up,” said Elba Head Coach Mark Beehler. “Dan, not having a ton of starts this year, he really came through. I knew he was a good ball player, but he really took charge tonight.”
Byron-Bergen, who was also missing a few key players, found their offense when Ranjit Singh hit a three-pointer to cut the lead to single digits with two minutes to play in the third quarter, but Elba responded quickly to end the quarter with six straight points and would never look back.
“We were getting stops on defense and some steals, but we were getting anxious on offense and not taking our time,” Beehler said. “We just needed to slow down and run some offense, when we did that we started to get back on a roll.”
The matchup between schools 10 miles apart is also intriguing because they have merged in several other sports, including football. In fact, eight members of the football team were also members of the basketball team at each school.
“I think it’s fun for the kids to come here, and see their fellow football players and see familiar faces, but when it gets to the court, it’s game time and it’s cutthroat,” Beehler said. “It’s always good sportsmanship between the two schools and good camaraderie.”
One of those players, Nate Jonathan, helped pace Elba (7-5) with seven points and 10 rebounds. Meanwhile, Jesse Pflaumer added 15 points and eight rebounds for the Lancers, who currently own a three-game winning streak.
Jeff Maskell had a team-high 11 points for Byron-Bergen, who falls to 2-9 on the season.
