Rock Falls boys beat Byron in BNC opener, move to 4-0

ROCK FALLS – Facing a Byron team hungry for its first win of the season, the Rockets had a battle on their hands Thursday night at Tabor Gym.

Rock Falls needed to hold off a late 3-point barrage from the Tigers, but the Rockets survived the comeback to open Big Northern Conference play with a 65-60 win. Rock Falls has opened the season 4-0 for the first time since 2018, when it started 14-0.

Senior Kuitim Heald led Rock Falls with 29 points in the win.

Heald said the team was ready for the Tigers to make their run after they did the same thing Tuesday night, falling short against Newman 69-65. Byron took third in the state last year in Class 2A.

“We just played with a chip on our shoulder,” he said. “We played like it was another night.”

Heald hit three 3-pointers in the first quarter as Rock Falls built a 14-11 lead after one and 31-23 at halftime.

He and Byron’s Cason Newton went basket-for-basket at times, with Newton also scoring 29 points.

Rock Falls had to navigate some foul trouble in the game. Ryken Howard (seven points) was saddled with some early fouls and had to sit for a stretch. The Rockets' bench was productive, led by Neo Menendez (eight points) and big men Cole Mulnix (five points) and Garret Wolf (six).

“Our bench energy helped us through the way,” Heald said. “Our bench has really good role players. Especially for people that haven’t played, they’re still doing good.”

Starter Austin Castaneda had eight points in the win.

With Rock Falls leading 44-33 after three quarters, Byron’s Weston Auker (17 points) caught fire midway through the fourth. Auker hit five straight 3-pointers with multiple Rock Falls timeouts in between as the Tigers tied the game with 2:46 left.

Byron’s shooters cooled off, however, as Rock Falls was able to regain the lead and hit enough free throws to secure the BNC win.

Byron hit nine 3-pointers after sinking 17 against Newman.

“They’ve got shooters,” Rock Falls coach Zach Sandrock said. “We knew that they were going to go on a run at some point, we just had to try and limit that. I thought our guys did a great job of contesting all those shots.”

It was a physical game at times and had a postseason feel for early in the season.

“We did what we needed to do at the defensive end,” Sandrock said. “We knocked down a few free throws and grinded out a tough-fought win. So it was nice.”

Rock Falls was 20 of 33 at the line. Byron was 5 of 8.

Sandrock said it’s a luxury to have an experienced player like Heald to have the ball in his hands in big moments.

“He’s been there before, he’s calm with it. The game slows down for him,” he said. “It’s just a calming presence to the other guys. Having that leadership and that experience with him, it just translates to everyone throughout the game.”

The Rockets are off to a good start, but Heald said there is room to improve.

“We’re not at our potential yet,” Heald said. “We’re still playing good ball, but we can play way better.”