By Gaylen Duskey
realfang@citlink.net
When Clarksburg Notre Dame showed up for Saturday afternoon's game at Mount
Zion the Irish was fully expecting to play a reserve game.
Unfortunately there was some sort of failed communication and Calhoun did
not have its reserve team on hand and ready to play.
Instead they played a girls-boys varsity doubleheader. But in the end there
was a reserve game after all.
As it turned out after the Fighting Irish had been pushed to the wall to
score a 35-32 victory over the Calhoun Lady Red Devils the boys game turned
into a one-sided rout with the Irish humbling the Red Devils 80-31.
But that lopsided score did allow the two schools to play their reserves in
the fourth quarter and the result of that "reserve game" was 12-11 in favor
of the Irish ⦠much closer.
What happened in the "reserve game" was what happened throughout as the
Irish managed to earn the edge with a couple of three-point goals. Overall,
Notre Dame had 13 three-point goals the most allowed by Calhoun this season
in a season plagued with three-point goals.
The three-point barrage started early as Notre Dame had seven in the first
half, including three by John Manchin, the great-nephew of Sen. Joe Manchin,
D W.Va. Manchin came off the bench of hit three straight threes from the
corner as the Irish broke open what up until then had some resemblance of a
competitive game.
Calhoun kept its composure against a relentless Notre Dame press in the
early part of the game and was behind only 6-4. Then the three started
coming and the composure against the press went away as the Red Devils tried
to dribble through it instead of passing the ball through it.
It was still a game at the end of one (18-10) but the barrage of threes
teamed with the strong inside play of AJ Goodman broke things apart and
Notre Dame raced out to a 43-16 halftime advantage.
After that all that was left to do was to determine the final score.
Justin Goff led Notre Dame, 8-7, with 12 points. The 5-5 guard was backed by
Manchin and Nick Alvaro with 11 each. Nick Shaffer, Cal Cistaro and Goodman
(before he left the game with an injury) added eight each. Tony Sesto had
seven, Drew Ridgeway six, Chris Petrucci four, Anthony Belcastro three and
Phil Wilson with two rounded out the scoring. Chad Morrison and Phil Chafin
both played but did not score.
Calhoun, 0-14, was led by Ryan Slider with 11. He also led the team with
seven rebounds.
He was backed by Tyler Gerwig with six, Luke Moore with five, Lucas Wilson
with four, Sam Brady and Ray Davis with two each and Tyler Turner and Mason
Sheldon with one each. Caleb Schoolcraft, Derek Dawson and Trent Phillips
all played but did not score. Ricky Hall did not play because of family
obligations.
Calhoun will try to get on the winning side of the ledger Wednesday night
when it is home to Doddridge County.
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