By Gaylen Duskey
realfang@citlink.net
"This one (loss) hurts the worst," Calhoun basketball coach Danny Bunch said moments after his Red Devils had dropped a 54-40 game to homestanding Doddridge County Wednesday night.
It wasn't because the loss was particularly lopsided or particularly close.
It wasn't because his players didn't give it their all.
It wasn't because it was the team's 41st consecutive loss which ran its season record to 0-19 heading into tonight's LKC playoff game at Tyler Consolidated.
The two teams finished last in their respective LKC divisions (Calhoun is in the South Division) and the battle is for 13th and 14th place.
What made this one hurt the worst is that Calhoun had the game to lose.
The Red Devils out played the Bulldogs for three quarters.
But in the fourth the Doddridge press that had been no trouble all night long suddenly became trouble ⦠the boards which Calhoun had owned suddenly became the property of the Bulldogs ⦠the earlier pinpoint passing suddenly started going everywhere except to where it was thrown.
Calhoun had the Bulldogs on their heels and even after a third quarter Doddridge surge had given it the lead Calhoun rallied to take a two-point 32-30 lead heading into the final eight minutes.
But that was where things went awry.
Doddridge outscored the Red Devils 24-8 in the final period as players that Calhoun had held in tow before that suddenly came alive.
Daniel Plaugher, for instance, had only seven points on the game but he got six of them in the fourth with three straight steals and three straight lay ups. Chris Satterfield had eight points in the game. Six came in the fourth.
Corey Aichele led the 4-14 Bulldogs with 17 points. He was backed by Jeff Bonnell with 14.
Ricky Hall led Calhoun with 13 points and was the only Red Devil to hit double figures.
But several others contributed in major ways. Mason Sheldon, for instance, had only eight points but he was an absolute monster on the boards with 12 rebounds, many of which he ripped away from the Bulldogs.
Caleb Schoolcraft also had eight while Luke Moore and Tyler Gerwig added four each and Ryan Slider two. But Slider had 10 rebounds as the Red Devils enjoyed a 36-23 edge on the boards and Moore had four assists as the Red Devils handed out several early in the game when they played their set offense.
The Bulldogs also won the junior varsity game but had a much easier time doing it as they coasted to a 68-18 win over the 0-15 Red Devils.
Sam Brady and Lucas Wilson led Calhoun with five each while William Baker, Dustin Turner, Luke Sheldon and Tyler Tanner all had two. Tanner did grab a game high 11 rebounds however.
Keith Britton scored 14 to lead Doddridge while Neil Lamb added 10. | 
