Jon Ginn was disappointed with his team last week in a 68-62 loss to Okolona where the East Webster Wolverines got behind by 18 points before surging back late and coming up short.
It’s been nearly a week since that game that EWHS has had a chance to prepare for a critical Class 2A, Region 2 test on the road in a difficult environment like Choctaw County. On Friday, the Wolverines passed that test with flying colors.
Behind four players scoring in double figures, it was a total team effort on both ends of the floor as EWHS was able to win 71-48. An impressive road district win locked up the district title for the regular season and gave EWHS the 1-seed for the tournament.
“I couldn’t be more proud of these guys. In a lot of ways, I thought it was our best game of the year coming off one of our worst games of the year at Okolona,” Ginn said. “It was a tough week this week with practice, but the guys bought in on what we had to do to get where we want to be and they pulled it off.”
EWHS had double figures on the night from Cael Chrismond with his 18 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the foul line. It wasn’t just Chrismond getting the job done. Jerkel Ivy had 15 points as he got the start in the game while Omarion O’Briant had 12 points and Sam Brown finished with 11.
An exciting first quarter was filled with energy from the crowd at the Ty Cobb Gymnasium. EWHS was able to get out to a lead in an offensive first frame and led 24-18. Defense picked up for both teams in the second and it was 34-28 at the half.
A big issue for coach Chris Pettit and his team was that star player Caleb Cunningham had two fouls right away in the game and Pettit picked up a technical foul. Cunningham got his third foul in the second quarter and it made it difficult for the Chargers to play aggressive.
“When Caleb picks up two fouls 1 minute into the game, you’re behind the eight ball already. I thought we were very fortunate at halftime to be down 6 points,” Pettit said. “We went back and forth but in the second half they got hot and when you dig a hole that big against a team that can shoot like them, you’re behind it and it’s hard to catch up.”
CCHS fell behind further in the third quarter when it was pushed out to 48-32, but Cunningham had one last gasp in the fourth. The standout sophomore had the first five points early in the quarter to cut the lead to 11, but EWHS would put the dagger in.
3-pointers from Hayes Fason and Brown spearheaded a 9-0 run and it was 57-37 as the rout was on at that point.
For the Chargers, it was the usual standouts. Cunningham and Roberts had 13 points each and Pettit continues to search for some more help for those players moving forward.
CCHS is now 15-8 on the year with a 1-2 Region 2 mark with two games to go. The Chargers will host Bruce on Tuesday and travel to J.Z. George next Friday to close out district play. The Wolverines (17-7, 4-0 Region 2) have clinched the top seed in the tournament but still have to play J.Z. George on the road Tuesday before hosting Houlka on Thursday evening.
Ginn is excited about the prospects of his team in the postseason but wants to finish strong in the regular season as well to have his team playing its best basketball.
“Calhoun City is a great team and I did not want to play them unless it was hopefully down the road in the tournament,” Ginn said of locking up the 1 seed. “We should be opposite of them and that’s huge.”
Girls
In a game in which neither team could get the shots to fall consistently, it was the Chargers’ defense that would come through down the stretch.
CCHS was clinging to a 1 point lead midway through the fourth before scoring 14-straight to win going away in a 49-34 game.
“We weren’t playing very good defense and a couple of good ball handlers had fouled out of the game and I recognized that. I started sending more pressure which created a lot of turnovers and we had a chance to run out and score,” coach Karl Hathorn said. “We’re struggling big time at the free throw line and wide open layups as well. But our defense came through for us.”
It was a back and forth ball game until late in the fourth quarter for the two teams. EWHS led 10-8 after one quarter before falling behind in the second 22-18. CCHS was leading by 1 point in the third quarter just as it would in the fourth and closed the third on a 7-0 run to take a 33-25 lead.
The two teams both struggled mightily shooting the ball. EWHS was 11-of-45 from the field and 9-of-22 from the line while the Lady Chargers went 19-of-57 from the field and 11-of-37 from the free throw line.
The victory for the Lady Chargers was a big one and now has them in position to compete for the regular season district title. With the victory improving the team to 2-1 in Region 2 play, they are now tied atop the standings with Calhoun City and EWHS with two district games left on their schedule.
It was a very disappointing game for EWHS (16-8, 4-1 Region 2) as it would have gotten the team closer to winning the regular season title.
