By Gaylen Duskey
realfang@citlink.net
The big number Tuesday night was zero. That's zero as in how many points Calhoun scored in the third quarter as Doddridge broke open a close game and held on for a 56-48 victory over the Red Devils.
Calhoun led early and looked as if it were on the verge of running Doddridge out of the gym, taking a 10-point lead midway through the second quarter.
But that's when two longstanding Calhoun bugaboos -- turnovers and poor shooting -- popped up and Doddridge grabbed the lead and was on top by five at intermission, 28-23.
Then came the third quarter when the bugaboos got even worse as Calhoun shot only eight times and missed them all. Doddridge did not have an especially big quarter, scoring only 12 points, but it was enough to give it a 17-point lead (40-23) heading into the final period.
That's when Doddridge tried to spread the floor and run time off the clock while denying the ball from Calhoun's leading scorer Zach Moore.
And it worked to a degree as the Bulldogs, now 5-7, were able to run time off the clock but even with all the attempts to deny Moore the ball the 6-2 junior scored 18 of his game high 34 points in the final period as Calhoun enjoyed a 25-point outburst to cut nine points off the margin.
Calhoun, now 2-10, started off quickly rallying for an early 7-2 Doddridge lead by outscoring the Bulldogs 13-1 over the last half of the first period.
Then Calhoun went cold.
Part of that could be attributed to the play of Doddridge's 6-7 Matt Middleton, who had four of his game-high five blocks in the period. He also had three of his game-high five assists in the period also as he found the open man whenever Calhoun's defense collapsed on him.
Middleton scored only seven points but he had 11 rebounds to go with his assists and blocked shots making him a problem for the shorter Red Devils.
Calhoun overcame that with the play of Moore, who flashed his all-state credentials with 17 rebounds to go along with his 34 points.
Moore had help from Justin Gerwig, who had 10 points and six rebounds.
The Red Devils also had some strong inside play from Cai Clothier, who added two points and a couple of rebounds before getting into foul trouble.
Chuck Kendall and Kyle Keesler did not score for the Red Devils but both played superb defense with Kendall coming up with a pair of steals and Keesler shutting down Doddridge's hot-shooting point guard, Jeremy White.
Calhoun got good play off its bench with Anthony Richards scoring a couple of points while Harold McCumbers, Greg Myers, Tyler Bennett and Daniel Sims contributed on the defensive end.
The Bulldogs scored an easy 61-26 victory in the junior varsity game that was highlighted by Calhoun's diminutive 5-3 senior Noah Sweeney scoring the first points of his career when he canned a three-point shot midway through the final period.
For Calhoun Brandon Sampson led the way with eight points while Quentin "Q Dawg" Murphy added six, Richards four, Sims three and "Double Oh" Joe Overbaugh two. Stewart Fitzwater, Greg Myers, CJ Myers and Bennett all played but did not score for the 0-10 Red Devils. The Calhoun junior varsity has not won a game since the 2005-06 season.
Calhoun will try to get its third win of the season tonight when it entertains Clay County in a doubleheader.
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