Eagles defense bests Bees

By Mike Wertman, Sports Writer Posted 27 December 2013 at 12:00 am

Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Kendall’s Alex Sutphen (1) drives past Byron-Bergen defender Steele Truax during the host Eagles victory over the Bees this afternoon.

KENDALL – Turning up the defensive pressure in the second half, Kendall posted a 53-41 victory over Byron-Bergen this afternoon in a Genesee Region League boys basketball make-up game.

Devin Appleton scored 11, Garret Love and Mookie Nauden 10, Will Condo 9, Alex Sutphen 7 and Isaiah Brown 6 for Kendall’s balanced attack.

Trailing by five, 25-20, at the half, Kendall used the effective defensive pressure to outscore Byron-Bergen 13-6 in the third period and 20-10 in the final stanza to improve to 4-1 in the league and 4-2 overall.

“Bergen was too comfortable in their offense in the first half so we had to do something to make them a bit uncomfortable,” Kendall Coach Justin Laureano said. “We rachetted up the defensive pressure in the second half and that defensive pressure was the key to getting the win.”

Setting the tone for the strong defensive effort, Kendall quickly rallied into the lead at 27-25 by opening the second half with a 7-0 run. A lay-up off a turnover by Sutphen ignited that rally which also featured a rebound bucket by Love and a fast break lay-up by Sutphen.

Kendall maintained a slender 33-31 advantage at the three-quarter mark as the Eagles closed the period with lay-up by Brown and a jumper by Love who had six points in the stanza.

Keeping up the momentum and the defensive pressure, Kendall extended its lead to eight at 41-33 in the first minute and a half of the final period after lay-ups off steals by Nauden and Condo along with a jumper by Love and a rebound bucket by Condo.

Appleton then hit three threes to stretch the Kendall advantage to 11, 50-39, with 1:50 remaining to put a lock on the victory.

Byron-Bergen had jumped out to a 17-10 first period lead as Nick Magin scored 10 of his game high 14 points during that stretch, including a pair of threes.

The Bees maintained a 25-21 lead at the half but the Eagles rallied to own the scoreboard in the second half by a 33-16 margin.