By Gaylen Duskey
realfang@citlink.net
Mason Sheldon threaded a pass to Ricky Hall who banked it up and in and just
like that Calhoun was on the board and on top of the game.
Unfortunately Ritchie County scored the next 23 points en route to a
season-opening 81-30 basketball victory over the homestanding Red Devils
Wednesday night.
After Hall's basket not much went right for the Red Devils.
First there were all the three point shots as the Rebels hit five of six in
the first quarter. Then there all the lay ups - those that Ritchie hit and
those that Calhoun missed - then there were the turnovers (24 by the Red
Devils).
Calhoun coach Danny Bunch said when his team fell behind five or seven to
two it just seemed to lose intensity which it failed to regain throughout
most of the rest of the contest.
The Red Devils were outscored in every quarter but took the biggest hits in
the first when Ritchie enjoyed a 25-4 advantage and the fourth when the
Rebels had a 21-2 edge.
Caleb Schoolcraft led Calhoun, 0-1, with 10 points while Luke Moore added
nine. Moore also led the team with a pair of assists. Mason Sheldon had six
points. He was followed by Ricky Hall and Ryan Slider with two each and Trent
Phillips with one. Justin Gerwig, Ray Davis, Lucas Wilson, Derek Dawson,
Isaac Coon and Zach Thomas all played but did not score.
Slider led the team with seven rebounds while Gerwig, in his first high
school game, added five rebounds.
Ritchie, 1-0, was led by DJ Burgess with 21. He was backed by Justin Sage
with 16, Ryder Bolin with 15 and Paige Haught with 11. Adam Cronin added
eight, Jessie Hilvers seven and Reno Jackson three while Nathan Shipe, Bobby
Michel and Johnny Hogue all played but did not score.
The junior varsity game was almost the polar opposite of the varsity contest
as Ritchie jumped out to a big lead only to have Calhoun roar from behind
before finally falling 45-35 in overtime.
The Rebels took an 8-0 lead at the end of the first quarter and pushed the
lead to 21-8 at halftime. But after that, at least until intermission, the
game belonged to the Red Devils.
Calhoun rallied and finally knotted things up at 34-34 on a pair of free
throws by Sam Brady with 14.7 seconds remaining setting up the overtime.
The Red Devils scored the first point in the extra period on a free throw by
Wilson but after that the veteran Rebels were able to put away the young Red
Devils by scoring 10 straight to close out the game.
Tyler Tanner came up big for the junior varsity with a team high 10 points
and 14 rebounds. He was the only Red Devil to hit double figures as the team
showed a balanced scoring attack.
He was backed by Wilson with nine points while Gerwig scored six despite
playing only one quarter. Brady, Derek Dawson, Jared Mounts, William Baker
and Thomas all had two points apiece while Kameron Carder played but did not
score.
Brady backed Tanner in rebounds with eight while adding two steals and a
pair of assists. Wilson also had two steals and Gerwig two assists.
Calhoun will try for its first win of the season when it plays host to Wirt
County Friday night while Ritchie will try to stay unbeaten when it goes on
the road to Lewis County next Tuesday.
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