By Gaylen Duskey
realfang@citlink.net
Calhoun guards Tyler Sims and Ethyn Miller combined for 33 points but it was not enough as perrenial state Class A power Huntington St. Joseph scored a 66-53 victory over Calhoun County in the first round of the Wirt County Invitational Tournament Friday.
Calhoun will play Wirt for third place today at 6 p.m. Wirt lost to Williamstown, 74-58, in the second opening round game.
Calhoun kept close to the Fighting Irish throughout despite getting blitzed 20-9 in the first quarter.
The Red Devils had tied the game at 9-9 only to have St. Joe score 11 straight behind the inside play of 6-8 center Jacob Streeter and the outside shooting of Travis McNeill, who hit six of his team high 17.
The Red Devils, 2-3, rallied in the second quarter and cut the lead to five, 31-26, when they were able to speed up the tempo of the contest when St. Joe took Streeter out and tried a press.
Calhoun cut the lead to three, 31-28, early in the third on a basket by Lucas Wilson. But it was the high water mark for the Red Devils even though St. Joe was unable to open up the lead by more than a point or two.
In the fourth quarter the Red Devils kept attacking and kept the score under double digits until the Fighting Irish decided to slow the game down. That slower tempo plus some timely outside shooting allowed the Irish to stretch the margin to the final 13-point advantage.
Sims led Calhoun with 17 while Miller added 16 while playing an outstanding game at point guard.
Sophomore Zack Yanero, in his first start of the season, had seven points and eight rebounds. The was aided by Tyler Gerwig with four, Austin Gribble with three and Wilson, Sam Brady and William Baker with two apiece. Dakota Jarvis played significant minutes but did not score while Dylan Heiney was in uniform but did not score. He has not played since suffering an injury in an automobile accident about a week ago.
For St. Joe, 3-2, McNeill led the way with 17. He was backed by Ian Clarke with 14 and Deandre Murphy with 12. Streeter had nine points for the Irish and Tyler Burgess had seven. John Morrison with four and Casey Colquitt with three rounded out the scoring.
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