By Gaylen Duskey
realfang@citlink.net
For a while Calhoun played the absolute worst basketball it has all season. Then for a while the Red Devils played the best basketball it has all season.
The problem was It was a little too much of one and not enough of the other as an old adage caught up with the Red Devils.
It is said the best thing to do when you find yourself in a hole is to quit digging.
But Calhoun dug for three quarters and found itself in a 28-point hole before it put the shovel down. But by that time the hole was too deep and even an outstanding fourth period comeback was not enough as Braxton County took a 73-63 victory over the visiting Red Devils Friday night.
Calhoun started slowly with a rough time of hitting the shots it was getting in the first quarter, some of the misses coming from point blank range. Then in the second quarter things got worse.
The Red Devils had trouble hanging on to the ball, rebounding and shooting as close in shots were hitting the rim, the backboard and nothing at all and as a result a relatively close game was blown wide open as Braxton enjoyed a 17-4 scoring edge in the quarter for a 29-15 halftime lead.
The third quarter wasn't any kinder to the Red Devils as the Eagles continued to soar and took a 51-28 advantage going into the fourth period by outscoring the struggling Red Devils 22-13.
After Braxton scored the first five points of the final period to go ahead by 28 - 56-28 - something clicked in the Red Devils and a tremendous comeback began.
For the remainder of the game the Red Devils outscored Braxton 35-17 and threatened to make an impossibility come true as they cut the margin to seven points with less than a minute remaining.
The problem for Calhoun was that it had waited too long to mount the comeback and time ran out before it could pull off the impossible as Braxton hit three free throws with less than 20 seconds to go to set the final margin.
The victorious Eagles, 3-7, were led by Cody Helton who played an absolutely brilliant game as he hit four three-point shots en route to scoring a game high 32. He also had 10 rebounds for Braxton.
He was supported by Thomas Pritt with 18. They were the only two Eagles to hit in double figures.
For the Red Devils, 3-7, Ryan Slider led the way with 23 and Tyler Sims added 18. They were backed by Ethyn Miller with nine, Sam Brady and Mason Sheldon with seven apiece and Lucas Wilson and Tyler Gerwig with two each. Cody Starcher and Luke Sheldon both played but did not score.
Calhoun's junior varsity team did not suffered the same malady as the varsity as it took a 55-43 victory over the Eagles. Calhoun is now 3-7 on the season.
Like the varsity the Red Devils started slow and trailed 19-14 at halftime. Unlike the varsity the reserves turned it on in the third quarter outscoring the Eagles 20-11 to take a 34-30 lead and pull away from there.
Calhoun had four players hit double figures with Luke Sheldon leading the way with 14.
William Baker, playing his first game of the season after finally getting his OK to play after rehabbing an injured knee chipped in with 13 while Austin Gribble and Dylan Heiney had 12 each.
Zack Yanero added two and Riley Cain and Nick Watkins each had one. Dakota Jarvis and Jerry Jones both played without scoring.
Game honors went to Braxton's Dalton Taylor with 19 but he was the only Eagle to hit in double figures.
Calhoun will try to get back on the winning path Wednesday when it travels to Gilmer County for a rematch with the Titans. Gilmer won the last game 52-46 as Calhoun had three technical fouls and two intentional fouls called on it in the last 6.4 seconds of the contest breaking a 46-46 tie.
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