Hayti sprints past Royals

Twin Rivers’ William Parker (right) tries to get by Hayti’s Isaiah Lovev during Tuesday’s boys basketball game in Broseley.

DAR/Robert Augsdorfer

BROSELEY — The Twin Rivers boys basketball team saw its five-game winning streak come to an end on Tuesday as the Royals fell to Hayti 79-63.

The Royals were right there with Hayti in the first half, even bringing it down to a one-possession game, but Twin Rivers coach Austin Birmingham said fatigue set in for his guys.

“I saw effort and toughness from us,” Birmingham said. “I think for three or four minutes we took some possessions off on defense and gave up some easy stuff. But overall I loved our effort and we didn’t give up.”

Twin Rivers actually started out strong, taking a 5-2 lead in the first three minutes of the contest, but Hayti was able to rattle off a 10-3 run in under two minutes to go up 12-8, causing Birmingham to call a timeout.

Coming out of the break, his guys were able to make it a three-point game as Hayti led 16-13 after eight minutes. For most of the second quarter, the Royals were within a possession or two, but Hayti was able to pull away and go into halftime up 37-25.

Hayti was able to shut down one of Twin Rivers’ assets in Luke Hester, who already had three fouls against him early in the second quarter and had to sit out for the remainder of the first half.

Hester was able to contribute 12 points before his night ended early on a questionable technical foul in the second half. His brother, Jake Hester, led the Royals’ offense with 14 points.

“We got a little winded in the second half,” Birmingham said. “Our last five games we were able to outrun teams and Hayti was able to run with us.”

Going up against a potent offense like Hayti’s didn’t really help matters either, as the team was led by a 30-point performance from J’Vonta Payne.

“When you have two or three quick guards that can take anybody off the dribble and are surrounded by shooters they can kick it out to, it’s tough to defend,” Birmingham said. “They can beat you a lot of ways.”

The Royals will have one more test before Christmas as they’ll host Van Buren on Thursday.

“They’re about the same way as Hayti,” Birmingham said. “We’ll clean some stuff up in practice and tighten up our defense for it.”