| By Gaylen Duskey
realfang@citlink.net
Had Jake Perkins played the whole game he may have outscored Wirt County.
As
it was the Calhoun senior came close as the Red Devils hammered the Tigers
67-41 in the Class A Region 4, Section 2 basketball tournament Friday night.
 Perkins (left) at State Tournament 2004
Perkins had 38 - the same as the Tigers - when Calhoun Coach Tim Moore
pulled him from the game with 2:11 remaining.
"I would like to have seen what he could have done," Moore said, "but we had
the game won and there was no sense in trying to show them (Wirt) up by
leaving Jake in there."
Moore said the impressive win over Wirt was but a glimpse of what is
possible.
"That's what we can do it Jake stays out of foul trouble and we stay
focused," Moore said. "With the exception of turnovers I was very pleased
with our effort tonight.
"We put in some new things and they worked well. We moved the ball well and
penetrated well. We also played good defense and we have to with a team like
Wirt because it can hurt you with its outside shooting."
Wirt did show flashes of that danger early in the game when a couple of
three-point bombs by Clint Stanley kept the Tigers competitive.
But after the Tigers tied the game at 12-12 Calhoun started to slowly pull
away behind the brilliance of Perkins and the crisp floor leadership of
Tommy Gerwig and the clutch shooting of Mike Batten.
Batten followed up a missed shot to give Calhoun a 14-12 lead. Wirt County
would never again pull even.
The Red Devils went on a 7-1 tear with Perkins hitting a basket inside and a
three-point bomb sandwiched around a driving lay-up by Gerwig.
All Wirt
could counter with was a free throw by freshman Alex Wilson.
Calhoun parlayed a 21-13 first quarter lead into an insurmountable 39-19
halftime advantage by outscoring Wirt 18-6 in the second quarter. Perkins
had 11 in the quarter giving him 24 at intermission.
The third and fourth quarters were more of the same as the Red Devils
increased its lead at each juncture.
Overall Perkins had 38 points, 15 rebounds, four steals, two assists and two
blocked shots.
Batten backed the exciting senior with 11 and Gerwig with 10. Tristan Harris
added five and Tyler Shartiger three.
For Wirt Stanley led the way with 13.
Calhoun, now 9-14, travels to Parkersburg Thursday night for a 7:30 game
against Parkersburg Catholic for the Region 4 title.
The Crusaders beat
Williamstown 43-40 in the other half of the bracket.
Wirt finished the season with an 8-16 record.
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