By Gaylen Duskey
realfang@citlink.net
Calhoun rallied in the second half to dig its self out of a deep hole and score a 55-51 overtime win on the road at Ritchie Tuesday night in the 2015-16 season opener for both teams.
The Red Devils, 1-0, dug themselves a hole in the early going as they were unable to get going on offense and defense as the Rebels roared out to a big 15-4 lead.
Ritchie, 0-1, continued the long distance assault - the Rebels had six three-point shots in the first half - and took a 30-17 halftime lead.
But then Calhoun came alive.
The Red Devils turned up the pressure on defense with nasty all-court pressure while finally beginning to hit from the field.
The Red Devils knotted things in the final period and took their first lead of the game a few seconds later as senior Austin Gribble warmed up with a pair of three point shots.
After that Ritchie was able to tie things up at 43-43 and the Red Devils were thwarted at the end on an attempt to win the game in regulation.
In the overtime period the Red Devils lost point guard Ethyn Miller, who had a game-high 24 points, but were able to pull away from the Rebels behind the shooting of Dylan Heiney, who had four of his 14 in the extra period, and Zack Yanero, who had a three that sealed the deal. Yanero led the Red Devils with 16 rebounds.
For Calhoun Gribble added nine points while Yanero chipped in the eight.
Dakota Jarvis, Ben Frederick, Caden Hicks, Trevor Carder and Soney Wilson all played but did not score.
Ritchie was led by Chase Sullivan and Ryan Morton with 17 each.
Ritchie won the junior varsity game 35-30.
Hicks led Calhoun with 10 points while Frederick added eight. Wilson had four, Noah Allen 3 and Levi Gregory and Carder two apiece. Hayden Richards had one while David Marks, Nick Murphy and Jon Long all played but did not score.
For Ritchie Clayton Bee led the way with seven.
Calhoun is idle until next Wednesday when it travels to Roane County.
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