Big two strikes again for Dulaney

Conway and Byers go for 59; No. 8 Lions drop Franklin in Baltimore County boys hoops

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by Derek Toney
Dulaney High boys basketball is undefeated, and Ryan Conway and Cam Byers are doing a nice impression of LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
The duo combined for 59 points Friday, leading the No. 8 Lions to a 75-60 victory over 13th-ranked Franklin in a Baltimore County contest in Reisterstown.
Conway, a 6-foot junior guard, led all scorers with 34 points with Byers finishing with 25 for the undefeated Lions (3-0). Senior Ben Murphy had 17 points for Franklin (3-1).
The Timonium school ceased control with a 25-11 second quarter for a 39-22 halftime advantage. Dulaney opened the season with a 73-45 victory over St. Paul’s School and 63-59 decision over then-No. 18 Havre de Grace at the Stars & Stripes Salute mixer at New Town.
Byers, a 6-6 forward, and Conway combined for 35 points against Havre de Grace, after 38 in the season opener against St. Paul’s. They’ve accounted for 63-percent of Dulaney’s scoring.
Byers said it’s not a two-man game for the Lions.
“When me and Ryan aren’t going well, we expect them [teammates] to step up,” said Byers. “We have faith in our teammates like they have faith in us.”
Lions coach Matt Lochte expects Cole McGee and Jaylen Amoruso to provide more scoring along with Jaylin Webster, who had 10 points Friday.
Lochte said his team’s figuring things out.
“I love our unselfishness, we’re making the extra pass,” said Lochte. “We’re developing our bench. We’re going about eight or nine deep…we’re still young, we’re only playing two seniors in our top nine.”
Conway had 10, including two 3-pointers and Byers nine in the second quarter as Dulaney opened up a 17-point advantage. The Lions led 58-41 after three, which bothered Lochte slightly.
“The third quarter is usually our bread and butter, we like to fatigue teams with our pressure and pace, that didn’t happened tonight,” said Lochte. “It’s early in the season and we’ll take the win against a good Franklin team who have some quality wins.”
Off to a 3-0 start, including an impressive debut against then-No. 6 McDonogh School, Franklin looked to add another Top 10 victim to its resume Friday. The Indians, who reached the Baltimore County final last season, did a good handling Dulaney’s pressure but didn’t hit shots consistently.
“We’re not big…there was no help on the boards. We weren’t a team today,” said Franklin coach Dave Iampieri. “We had a good start and had expectations to do well today.”
Dulaney, which lost in the Class 4A state semifinals to eventual champ Eleanor Roosevelt from Prince George’s County after a valiant late rally, believes it has pieces to return to College Park in March.
“I know this team is going to play hard every game,” said Conway, who’s averaging 27.3 points through three games. “Everybody’s a year older and understands their role more.”
No. 8 Dulaney 75, No. 13 Franklin 60
Dulaney – Adams 6, Byers 25, Conway 34, Webster 10. Totals 27 17-20 75.
Franklin – McCall 6, Johnson 15, Truitt 12, Lowry 2, Murphy 17, Moore 5, Randall 3. Totals 19 18-25 60.
Dulaney 14 25 19 16 – 75
Franklin 11 11 19 19 – 60