By Gaylen Duskey
realfang@citlink.net
Calhoun had just nipped Braxton County 36-34 but before coach Mike Sims would let his players dress he told them they must make 10 fouls shots apiece.
Ironically Calhoun actually won the contest at the free throw line as Tyler Sims made four clutch shots in the final minute to hold off the hard-charging Braxtonians for the victory.
But as a team the Red Devils were a pitiful 8-27 with Sims getting seven of the eight on nine shots.
Had the Red Devils come through at the line there probably would have been no drama since they jumped on Braxton early and pulled to a 15-4 lead.
But missed shots, particularly at the free throw line allowed Braxton to stick around and eventually tie the score at 32-32, setting up Sims' heroics from the charity stripe.
The elder Sims, while happy with the win, was still probably feeling the effects of Calhoun's 33-32 overtime loss at Ritchie County when the Red Devils missed all six free throws in overtime.
Calhoun played much of Wednesday night's game without Tyler Gerwig who got in early foul trouble and fouled out early in the fourth quarter, He managed to play only about half the game and his numbers -- six points and six rebounds -- were both below his season average.
With Gerwig on the bench the Red Devils got inspire performances from Sam Brady and Tyler Tanner up front. Brady had six points and a team high nine rebounds while Tanner had six points and six rebounds.
Sims led the Red Devils, now 8-6, with a game high 15 points.
Lucas Wilson added three while Kirkland Allen, Luke Sheldon and William Baker all played but did not score.
Braxton was led by Timothy Osborne who came off the bench to score 13 while grabbing seven rebounds.
In the B game Calhoun dropped to 0-14 as Braxton rolled to a 36-13 victory.
Braxton got out front early and led 30-4 after three quarters before Calhoun righted itself in the final period to cut into the lead.
Jerry Jones led the Red Devils with six points while Chris Thornton added three while Nick Watkins and Robby Lamp had two apiece.
Christopher Kirkland, Riley Cain, Dustin Turner, Austin Bailey, Nick Murphy, Austin Gribble and Kyle Farrell all played but did not score.
Farrell led the Red Devils with four rebounds.
Calhoun returns to action tonight (Thursday) with a CWVAC game at Clay.
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