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By Gaylen Duskey
realfang@citlink.net
There were about two minutes left in a game that had been long ago decided when the referee called a player for walking erasing a basket the player had just scored.
The crowd erupted in boos and catcalls.
The surprised referee looked at the sideline as it to say "What did I do?"
He did not know that he had erased the first basket by Christopher Kirkland a little-used but popular sub off the Calhoun Middle School bench. Had the basket counted it would have been the first points by the eighth grader.
But it didn't.
However with the clock winding down on what was to be a 39-23 Geary Middle School victory over CMS in the CWVAC playoffs Kirkland got another chance.
This time he took the pass, dribbled, and shot.
This time it went in. This time it counted.
And this time the Geary fans joined the Calhoun fans in cheering for the bespectacled little blonde haired kid.
While Kirkland's basket provided a warm feeling for the CMS and Geary fans the Geary team rode the shooting of Issac Putnam to a victory that kept CMS winless on the season.
Putnam had 20 points for the Panthers, who advance to the CWVAC tournament Friday and Saturday.
David Nichols backed Putnam with six points while Brandon Morris added five, Daniel Tallman three and Adam Walker and Billy Beasley two apiece. Gavin Nichols, Tyler Ricker, Gage Sigman and Ben Scott all played but did not score for Geary.
Chris Thornton led CMS with 11. He was backed by Jerry Jones and Zack Yanero with four each while Kirkland and Trevor Carder had two apiece. Ben Frederick, Sonny Wilson and Buck Marks all played but did not score.
Geary jumped to a 10-6 first quarter lead and extended that to 23-8 at halftime. The Panthers outscored CMS 8-5 in the third while CMS enjoyed a 10-8 advantage in the fourth.
Calhoun Coach Jimmy Gregory praised the effort of his team saying that if it would have had that sort of effort all season long it would have won some games.
The game was the final one of the year for CMS.
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