By Gaylen Duskey
realfang@citlink.net
For a 43-point loss to have a silver lining would appear to be a stretch.
But that's exactly what it was Friday night in Calhoun's 92-49 loss at sixth-ranked Class AA Braxton County Friday night.
The silver lining was in the way Calhoun handled the ball and handled things despite losing its leading rebounder - and the second in the second-leading rebounder in the Mid-Ohio Valley - to fouls early.
Calhoun's Josh DeWeese picked up two fouls in the first quarter forcing the 6-4 senior to the bench. Without him Braxton was able to pound the ball inside to 6-5 Trey Chapman and 6-5 Michael Coen repeatedly.
But the Red Devils hung tough and were still in the game after a third-quarter rally that closed the margin to 13 points, as DeWeese was able to play inside and rebound and play defense.
But then DeWeese picked up his fourth foul and Calhoun was once again without the ability to play defense on the inside and when DeWeese picked up his fifth foul with 5:01 to play the Eagles went wild ⦠at least Coen did as he scored double figures in the period en route to a team-high 21 points.
Calhoun, 0-12, was led by the inspired play of senior Andrew Norman, who had a team-high 20 points. Sophomore Justin Gerwig played his best game of the season with 14 points and 10 rebounds. DeWeese, despite playing only about half the game because of personal fouls, had nine points and six rebounds. He also had five blocked shots.
For Braxton, 9-1, Chapman backed Coen with 18 points while Cord Metz and Ryan Rexroad added 15 each and Chris Shuman 10. The Eagles had seven three point goals in the game to go with the rebounding edge against the foul-plagued Red Devils.
Braxton County also won the junior varsity game 66-20 as Alex Valdvieso scored 11 to lead a balanced attack. Braxton is now 7-2.
Daniel Sims led Calhoun, 0-9, with six while CJ Myers had four, Greg Myers three. Tyler Bennett, Cai Clothier and Jordan Panarello had two each.
Joe Overbaugh, Noah Sweeney, Anthony Richards, Quentin Murphy, Stuart Fitzwater and Harold McCumbers all played but did not score.
Calhoun returns to action tonight (Saturday) with a game against Wirt County. The game is a reschedule of the Jan. 2, game that was postponed because of snow.
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