By Gaylen Duskey
realfang@citlink.net
One thing consistent about the Calhoun basketball team is its inconsistency.
Friday night that consistent inconsistency caught up with the Red Devils as
visiting Wirt County rolled to a 75-38 victory.
At times Calhoun's offense worked well. At other times it worked anything
but. At times the Red Devils defense was solid. At other times it looked
anything but. The inconsistency of the performance had Red Devils coach
Danny Bunch shaking his head.
At one minute the team would make good, hustling play, Bunch said, then the
next they'd stand around and watch Wirt do something. Unfortunately those
mental and hustle lapses are the things that keep basketball teams from
winning games.
The two teams started off on relatively even keel but Wirt did own a 15-8
first quarter advantage as the Red Devils struggled a bit from the floor.
More of the same happened in the second quarter as the Tigers moved out to a
13-point, 29-16, halftime lead. Yet the Red Devils were within striking
distance.
But red-hot Wirt shooting caught up with Calhoun in the second half,
particularly the third quarter when the Tigers hit 11 of 15 from the field
as Calhoun's defense suffered the same kind of breakdowns that the offense
had suffered through in the first half. Wirt's 26 points were more than
enough to offset the 13 Calhoun had in its best offensive quarter of the
game and the Tigers owned a 55-26 advantage going into the fourth period.
The fourth was more of the same as the Tigers set the final margin.
Caleb School craft led the 0-2 Red Devils with 11 points while Luke "Tiny"
Moore added nine. They were backed by Tyler Gerwig with five, Ryan Slider
and Mason Sheldon with four each, Lucas Wilson with three and Ricky Hall
with two. Ray Davis, Derek Dawson, Zach Thomas, Isaac Coon and Trent
Phillips all played but did not score. Gerwig led the Red Devils with seven
rebounds while Sheldon added six as the smaller Tigers out rebounded the Red
Devils 40-29. Calhoun had 24 turnovers while Wirt had 11.
Wirt, 1-0, was led by Matt Roberts with 19 while Kaleb Bell added 17 and
Josh Trembley 13. JT Nemeth had seven and a game high 10 rebounds while
Trenton Hardbarger and Mark Cunningham had six, Josh Quinn five and Jeremy
Kerby two.
Wirt also won the junior varsity game 46-34 despite a breakout performance
by Tyler Tanner, who had a game high 14 points and seven rebounds.
Tanner was backed by Wilson with six while Thomas and William baker had four
each and Gerwig, Dawson and Kameron Carder two each. Nick Watkins, Sam Brady
and Jared Mounts all played but did not score.
For Wirt Hunter McCoy led the way with 12 while Justin Cearner had 10.
Dustin McVey and Cunningham had six each while Dylan Frazier had three,
Justin Jay and Shane Hinzman two and Dustin Young one for the Tigers.
Calhoun returns to action Wednesday night at home against Roane County while
Wirt is home to Parkersburg Christian the same night.
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