Calhoun boys’ basketball earns runner-up honors in Adairsville tournament
Two points — that was the difference between Calhoun taking home the firstplace trophy in the Adairsville Ace Home Center Tiger Christmas Clash and the Jackets settling for second place behind Cartersville. The latter is what happened. While Calhoun Coach Vince Layson was disappointed not to finish first, he knows that there are a lot of positives and lessons his team can take away from their tournament run.
“It’s definitely a positive,” Layson said. “You want to be in this game and not the consolation game for sure. We showed that we can play with those guys – taking the lead there late. It’s definitely a step forward in the right direction going toward the region part of the season. There are silver linings there.
“We’re going to take this loss in stride and focus on what we need to get better on,” Layson said.
In that 60-58 championship game loss to Cartersville Thursday night, Calhoun started slowly, played sloppy early on and was losing by 10 at halftime. The Jackets’ Jake Prather scored six of his 13 points in the third quarter to cut it to a four-point game heading into the final period.
Then, Calhoun’s Blaze Hammett scored a layup in the fourth quarter that gave the Jackets their first lead of the game 51-50, but Calhoun could not seal the deal ultimately. Layson said his team’s shaky start was the biggest key to the game’s outcome.
“You can’t get off to a slow start,” Layson said. “One of our keys to the game in there (the locker room) on the board was we got to play for 32 minutes. We came out and gave them that kind of lead, and we had to battle back and
battle back, which we did. Our effort was good late, but we kind of used up our energy a little. We just didn’t come out with the energy and the fire that we need to win a big ball game.”
Cartersville’s Kam Callahan led both teams with 25 points, including several crucial points near the end of the game to help give the Purple Hurricanes the victory. Dylan Faulkner led the Jackets with 19 points, including knocking down nine of his 13 free throw attempts, which helped keep Calhoun in it in the first half. Faulkner’s teammate Hammett added 14 of his own.
Layson praised their contributions but is looking for more players to step up.
“Dylan’s been our rock so far, and a lot of stuff, as far as what we do, runs through Dylan,” Layson said. “He did a better job making some free throws tonight. Blaze (Hammett) came in and played really well in the second half. He’s a really good transition player, and we got him in transition.
“We just got to have some other people step up,” Layson said. “We got to have some people we can rely on night in and night out outside of Dylan that we can come in and say, ‘Hey, that kid’s going to give us 10 tonight. That kid’s going to give us 12,’ instead of just rotating that one guy around. The season is still early, and we’re working on some stuff. Our depth issues – we got a couple guys
hurt. Once we get them back healthy that will help us out …”
In their first game of the tournament on last Tuesday, the Jackets took care of business by routing Temple 60-43. Faulkner had an impressive day for Calhoun as he scored 25 points and made his presence felt on the boards and on defense. Layson shared his thoughts on Faulkner’s play in the first-round game.
“Dylan’s been solid all year long,” Layson said. “He’s been our anchor down low – both rebounding and defensively – deflecting shots and altering shots. Offensively, he’s been as solid as they come.”
Christopher Lewis also had a nice night with 11 points. Layson liked what he saw from Lewis.
“Christopher had a much better game,” Layson said. “You can tell he’s starting to get his basketball feet up under him a little bit – able to run the offense a lot better today, and he eliminated some turnovers. We’ve been really struggling with turnovers, so we did a lot better job.”
Overall, Layson was happy with the improvement he is seeing from his
team and was glad to get the big win to start the tournament.
“You got to get past the first one,” Layson said. “I felt like we got back to our brand of basketball a little bit. You can tell that we’re finally starting to get in shape. We were able to run and get some transition points. We knew they were going to press, and our plan was to make them pay for pressing, and we got some layups. I just thought our energy was better. I was very happy.”
In the second-round game on Wednesday, Calhoun earned an 84-80 win over Adairsville. Faulkner put up 27 points in the victory, while Peyton Law accounted for 19. For their efforts throughout the tournament, Faulkner and Law joined Prather in being named to the Adairsville Ace Home Center Tiger Christmas Clash All-Tournament team.
Other area scores
Hounds Holiday Hoops Classic Dec. 29 – South Forsyth girls 72, Calhoun 52
Dec. 30 – Hillgrove girls 54, Calhoun 40