By Gaylen Duskey
realfang@citlink.net
Balanced Calhoun placed five players in double figures to score a runaway 76-50 victory over home standing Roane County Monday night for its fourth win in a row.
Chucky Kendall led Calhoun with 18 points - all coming from three-point land. Kendall was red hot from outside hitting o six of eight attempts. He was joined in the scoring parade by Justin Gerwig (14), Anthony Richards and Bronson Clark (11 each) and Kyle Keesler 10.
Kendall also had four rebounds, three steals and a blocked shot.
Overall, Calhoun's ball-hawking defense shut down the Raiders with the exception of Shane Starcher in the second half. Starcher had 18 points - all from three-point land - as he hit from deep and deeper to almost singlehandedly make the rout less of a rout.
Calhoun jumped on the Raiders in the first quarter and rolled out to a 17-8 lead and would never be seriously threatened again.
The Red Devils, now 7-8, led 34-21 at the half.
In the second half Roane got an early run to cut the margin to 10 at one point - 39-29 - only to have the Red Devils apply the clamps defensively while continuing its barrage at the Raiders' basket.
Gerwig led the Red Devils on the boards with eight rebounds. Keesler added six rebounds while Richards and Cai Clothier added five. Keesler led Calhoun with four assists while Richards had four steals.
The five double-figure scorers were joined by Dan Sims with five, Clothier with four, Brandon Sampson two and Tyler Bennett one. Caleb Schoolcraft and Randy Fluharty both played but did not score.
Colton Taylor had 11 points and was the only player for the 1-16 Raiders to score in double figures other than Starcher.
Roane easily won the junior varsity game with a 32-point 68-36 victory over the Red Devils. The loss was not as lopsided as the season-opening loss to the Raiders, who won that game by a 38-point margin: 52-14.
Roane started off a bit sluggish and was tied with the winless Red Devils (0-12) at the end of the first quarter, 9-9.
That's when the dam burst and Roane enjoyed a 21-9 second quarter advantage and a 30-18 halftime lead. The carnage continued in the third quarter and came to a crescendo in the final stanza when the Raiders rolled up their biggest quarter of the night with 23 markers.
Sampson led the Red Devils with 12 points and four steals before fouling out.
Schoolcraft added seven, Sims six, Ricky Hall four, Bennett and Trent Phillips two each and Stuart Fitzwater and Quentin "Q Dawg" Murphy one each. Luke Moore and Derek Dawson both played but did not score.
Game honors went to Roane's Austin Nichols with 19 while Lane Ashley added 14.
Calhoun returns to action Friday night as it entertains Wirt County in a doubleheader. The junior varsity game is scheduled to get under way at 5:45 p.m.
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