Though they moved up to Class C2 from Class C3 this season, the Byron-Bergen boys basketball team, as of February 4, was ranked 16th in the New York State Sportswriters Association poll with a 13-4 record heading into the final two games of the regular season.
The Bees advanced to the 2023 Section V semi-finals last season before losing to Wheatland-Chili and they are hoping to take the final step and win the first Section V boys basketball title in school history. (Note: South Byron HS won Class C titles in 1933, 1941 and 1945).
“Work hard and win,” senior forward Braedyn Chambry said. “Not taking anything for granted this year; we’ve worked harder than last year. We want to go all the way.”
“As coach says, use stuff as bulletin board material,” added senior forward Brody Baubie.
Chambry is clearly the focal point of the offense. He scored 41 points December 2 against Fillmore to set a new program record for points in a game. And he just registered his 1,000th career point January 31 versus Pembroke.
But the offense certainly does not end there. Baubie, senior forward Brendan Pimm and senior guard Colin Martin have all shown their scoring abilities at various times all season either inside or outside with junior point guard Noah Clare setting the table.
“We have a lot of talent on the bench and we’re young, so next year they’re going to be good too,” Chambry said. “We’ve all been playing together since second grade and now we’re all finally back on the same team, so the chemistry is good.”
“We know how each other plays,” Bauble added. “We just have to play hard; we have really good people.”
The Bees have four players scoring 100 or more points this season through 17 games in Chambry (358), Baubie (225), Martin (175), and Pimm (110).
“I think we are deeper; I think last year our guards were so strong that we didn’t have anybody that could replace them off the bench, so it’s just a different make-up than it was last year,” head coach Roxanne Noeth said.
“We’re a little bit more methodical (this year) than we needed to be last year where we could play a lot of up-tempo. This year we pick our spots…my sixth man is a freshman (guard Cody Carlson), so that spells good stuff for the future. And we have a couple of solid sophomores that we bring in too.”
Chambry and Pimm stand one-two in rebounds with 202 and 104, respectively, while Chambry leads in blocks (25) and Martin leads in steals (54). Five different players have dished out 32 or more assists.
The team is shooting almost 50% from inside the arc and over 28% from behind the arc. The one blemish is they are only shooting 57% from the free throw line.
“I’ve been talking a lot about being more methodical offensively because Wheatland is a very good defensive team, so we may not get our first pass and a shot, and we have to be able to run our offense effectively,” Noeth said.
“Soccer (advancing to the Class C state final) did a lot for them as far as understanding the winning culture and what it takes, so I’m happy that they had that experience and hopefully some of that comes into play for us down the stretch.
A lot can happen over the final two regular season contests, but Byron-Bergen could host at least the first two rounds of the Section V playoffs, but with teams such as Wheatland-Chili, York, Alexander, Boliver-Richburg and Honeoye near them in the standings, it will not be an easy road.
But nothing worth winning ever is.
