Colt Fowler and Sukhi Singh were grabbing a bite to eat on Monday night.
In just over 24 hours, the pair would be leading their team into battle at No. 2 Dutch Fork. A spot in the 5-A D1 Upper State Championship was on the line.
They made a declaration over that meal.
“Last year, we felt a second-round exit,” said Fowler. “It was a long offseason putting in that work. Me and Sukhi were eating and talking last night about it. We’ve [been leaders] of this team for two years. We weren’t coming down here to lose.”
Fowler and Singh were good on their word.
The star backcourt duo combined for 51 points (34 for Fowler, 17 for Singh) as Byrnes outpaced Dutch Fork, 71-51, and clinched a spot in the final four among Class 5-A D1 teams.
Fowler had a slight limp toward the end of the first half after taking a hard fall on his previously-injured ankle. He went to the locker room a bit early, but after he came back out for the second half, the junior superstar PG took over.
His personal 7-0 run at the beginning of the fourth quarter gave Byrnes a 53-38 lead, effectively putting the game out of reach for Dutch Fork.
“Colt’s got that competitive spirit, I call it a warrior mentality,” said Byrnes head coach Layne Fowler. “Playing through an injury, he knows his teammates believe in him, and he believes in his teammates. It was a total team effort tonight, and Colt was spearheading that. I’m proud of them.”
“I wanted to come out in the second half and get buckets, for sure,” said Colt. “I wanted to push the ball at them. After that, we kept our foot on the gas pedal.”
Against a Dutch Fork team with plenty of size, Byrnes was beaten in the rebound tally handily. But Fowler did praise the performance of big man Jack Bailey, who got more minutes than usual tonight as the Rebels tried to slow the Silver Foxes in the paint.
Bailey had a big bucket in the third quarter to stop a Dutch Fork run, as well as a few crucial boards.
“Anyone will tell you that even against big teams, if you put bodies on bodies, you’ll have a chance,” said Layne. “They got us on the glass, but I do think defensively, we had a good gameplan coming in. We wanted to pick our poison and let them take outside shots on us.”
That was a good decision, as Dutch Fork shot almost 30 three-pointers in the game and made just two.
The Silver Foxes’ woes from outside, combined with Colt’s heroics in the second half, led Byrnes to what turned into a decently comfortable win.
The Rebels’ next game should be anything but comfortable.
Byrnes will take on two-time defending state champions Ridge View on Saturday night, location to be determined.
“I’m not going to even really get the chance to celebrate this one much, because we’re going to get right to planning for them,” Layne said after the game of Ridge View. “They’ve got dudes all over the court.”
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