By Gaylen Duskey
realfang@citlink.net
Balance, patience, good foul shooting and only 10 turnovers combined Wednesday night to lift Calhoun to a 61-53 victory over visiting Clay County.
Three Red Devils - Sam Brady, Tyler Sims and Ryan Slider - combined for 40 points to more than offset the singular brilliance of Clay's Chris Cole, who led all scorers with 28. The problem for the 4-5 Panthers was that no one else scored in double figures.
The game was tight throughout with Clay grabbing the lead early and holding it until midway through the third quarter when Calhoun took the lead for on a Brady basket coming on a nice assist by Ethyn Miller. After that the Red Devils slowly widened the margin especially in the fourth quarter when they hit 12 of 17 free throw attempts.
Although not winning by a huge margin the game was probably the Red Devils' best effort of the season, especially handling the ball despite the, at times, helter skelter pace of the game.
Clay took a 14-12 lead after one quarter. The scoreboard read 14-11 but after double checking the scorebook a free throw by Slider was not awarded. Once the error was found and corrected the Devils were behind by only two.
Clay continued to lead in the second quarter and outscored the Red Devils 14-11 for a three-point 28-23 halftime lead.
Calhoun outscored Clay by seven - 18-11 - to take the lead in the third and was on top 41-39 heading into the final period.
After that the Red Devils, 3-5, slowly widened their lead.
Brady led Calhoun with 14 while Slider and Sims netted 13 each. Mason Sheldon back them with eight. He was followed by Tyler Gerwig with seven, Miller with four and Cody Starcher with two. It was Starcher's first points of the season.
Lucas Wilson also played several minutes but did not score.
Steve Cole backed Chris Cole with nine while Jarrod Woodyard added six, Storm Carver five, Eric McGlothin three and Noah Taylor two.
Clay, 5-2, won the junior varsity game by a 42-38 score as Zach Dorset came off the bench to lead the way wit h 11 while Jared Legg added 10.
Calhoun, 2-6, was led by Zack Yanero with 11 as Dylan Heiney added nine and Luke Sheldon eight. Austin Gribble had five points while Dakota Jarvis had three and Nick Watkins two. Austin Hicks, Chris Thornton, Riley Cain, Jerry Jones and Christopher Kirkland all played but did not score.
Calhoun will try to stay on the winning track Friday night when it entertains Gilmer County.
| 
