By Gaylen Duskey
realfang@citlink.net
Calhoun was going like a house on fire early
but the Red Devils hit a cold stretch about the same time Roane County ran
into foul trouble.
And when those two things collided Roane
went on a tear and rolled to a 65-46 season-opening victory over the Red
Devils.
Calhoun was on top early and had moved out
to a 13-6 first quarter lead.
Then the Red Devils lost their shooting eye.
They also lost big Josh DeWeese to foul problems. Without him the offense
sputtered.
About the same time Roane had a player pick
up a third foul. When that happened the Raiders brought Justin Vanhove
off
the bench and after that it was lights out for the night.
Vanhove, and another substitute, Dylan
Whiting scored the next seven points to tie the game - Whiting had two
baskets inside and Vanhove a trey to tie the score.
Then Kevin McMillian scored at the 4:50 mark
of the second quarter to give the Raiders a lead they would never
surrender.
There would be one tie as Tyler Shartiger
scored for the Red Devils to knot things up at 15-15.
But that was it.
Derek Knotts scored a three-point basket then
Vanhove took over scoring six of his team high 18 in the next few
minutes
as the Raiders pulled away to a 32-19 halftime lead. The Raiders 24-6
scoring advantage in the quarter left the Red Devils reeling.
That continued in the third quarter as Roane
pushed the lead out to 20 - 52-32 - behind the shooting of Vanhove and
McMillian.
Calhoun managed to stop the bleeding in the
fourth quarter but by the it was too late.
Vanhove and Eddie Williams led Roane (1-0)
with 18 each while McMillian added 13.
Tom Gerwig had a game high 19 for the Red
Devils before fouling out. Tyler Shartiger added 17.
DeWeese had several big rebounds and scored
six points before fouling out.
Matt Houchin added three and Andrew Norman
one.
John Dodd, Michael Sullivan and Lucas
Morford all played but did not score.
Roane County won the junior varsity game
53-33 despite the 13-point effort of Jacob Dodd.
Calhoun returns to action Friday morning in
the Capital City Classic. The Red Devils will play Independence at the
Charleston Civic Center.
Following Friday's game Calhoun will be home to Braxton County Saturday
night.
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