There were three high school basketball games played at McCallie’s Sports & Activities Center Thursday night in TSSAA Hall of Champions competition and none were very close.
The Silverdale Seahawks looked good in beating Central by a 74-49 final in the first one while host McCallie handed Silverdale its first loss of the season after three straight wins by a lopsided 81-40 final. And then in the last game of the evening, McCallie made it two in a row with a 55-21 win over Central.
McCALLIE 81, SILVERDALE 40: The host Blue Tornado got their season off and rolling on a positive note as they completely dominated a Silverdale team that really never had a chance to catch its breath following the opening win over Central.
Cameron Mullins scored on a layup on the game’s first possession to give Silverdale a 2-0 lead, but the Blue Tornado responded with 11 unanswered points for an 11-2 lead following a layup by Miles Stijepovic.
The McCallie lead was 25-3 before the Seahawks scored five of the last seven points of the quarter to trail 27-8 at the first break.
Silverdale had its best run of the game to start the second quarter, outscoring the hosts 11-5 in the first three minutes to get within 13 at 32-19, but McCallie responded in a hurry by finishing the half on a 16-6 run to lead 48-25 at intermission.
The score only got worse as McCallie had fresher legs and the Seahawks were beginning to feel the fatigue of playing back to back games.
Despite the lopsided final score, Silverdale coach Slater Belew liked what he saw from his kids in both games.
“I’m really proud of our effort, but it’s tough playing two games back-to-back,” he began shortly after the final horn sounded.
“I liked how we fought the entire time and even though we got a little tired at the end, there’s no doubt that we won’t play a better team all season than the McCallie team we just faced. But absolutely, I’m pleased with our effort tonight,” Belew concluded with a smile.
McCallie coach David Conrady wasn’t sure what he would see in his team’s first game of the season, but he too was happy with what he witnessed.
“It was good to play against someone else, but I could tell that Silverdale got a little fatigued at the end. They are a fine basketball team and this final score is nowhere indicative of what kind of team they have,” he praised the Seahawks.
“I thought we passed the ball well and did a good job of finding David Craig inside, but I also thought that Miles Stijepovic did a nice job of connecting from outside. I saw a lot of positives and I know this is just the first game, but we just hope to keep improving. And I was especially happy with how we defended,” Conrady added.
Stijepovic scored 21 points, including five from long range, to lead a McCallie team that had five players in double figures.
Craig finished with a dozen points while Kollin Claridy was next with 11. Guillaume Bogaert and Wilson Rankin both finished with 10 points apiece.
Mullins was the leading scorer for Silverdale with 12 points. Brett Wright was next with 10.
McCallie also had an unofficial 26-17 edge in rebounding as Rankin grabbed seven. Parker Robinson and Craig claimed six apiece while Wright was the leader for the Seahawks with six.
SILVERDALE 74, CENTRAL 49: Silverdale doubled the score at 24-12 after the first quarter and never slowed down as they handled the youthful Purple Pounders without much problem.
Silverdale’s lead at intermission was 13 points at 41-28 while the biggest lead of the game was 28 points at 70-42 with 4:06 to play following a layup by Kennedy Okpara.
Wright, a promising sophomore, scored 13 points in the first half and finished with 19 to lead Silverdale while Sam Bambrey canned all five of his shots from beyond the arc to follow with 15. And Okpara, a 14-year-old freshman that you’ll be hearing a lot about in the coming years, ended the game with 14 points.
Ryan Glover scored nine points to lead Central while teammates Donovin Smith and Matthew Sharpe both finished with eight.
Central coach Kantonio Davis knows that the season is still really young, but that he has some potential on a team that is really inexperienced.
“We had six guys playing tonight who have been playing high school basketball since last Wednesday, so we’re trying to teach them a lot in a short period of time. I have faith that these guys will be okay on down the line, but we just have to keep working,” he said.
McCALLIE 55, CENTRAL 21: Depth, size and experience were all on McCallie’s side and the Blue Tornado took advantage in all three categories.
McCallie was able to play everyone dressed out and they won with ease as a 17-6 lead after one stanza stretched to 26-12 by halftime. McCallie’s defense was again outstanding, holding the Purple Pounders to just nine second-half points, including just two in the third quarter.
Stijepovic was again the scoring leader for McCallie with 14 points while Craig had a dozen. Glover was tops for Central with seven points while teammate Reginald Wadley was next with three.
FIRST GAME SUMMARY
CENTRAL 12 16 11 10 -- 49
SILVERDALE 24 17 18 15 -- 74
CENTRAL (49) – Turner, Patillo 2, Smith 8, Glover 9, Bell 3, Collins 5, R.
Watson 6, Sanderfer 2, Gore, Sharpe 8, Savage 2, Wadley 2, M. Watson 2, Sanders.
SILVERDALE (74) – Botts 5, Qualls, Okpara 14, Cline 5, Delashmitt 3, Mullins 6, Gibson, Wright 19, Holland 5, Bowman, Richardson, McGraw 2, Hardaway, Bambrey 15.
3-POINT GOALS: Central 6 (Smith 2, R. Watson 2, Sharpe, Collins); Silverdale 9 (Bambrey 5, Cline, Delashmitt, Wright, Holland).
SECOND GAME SUMMARY
SILVERDALE 8 17 7 8 -- 40
McCALLIE 27 21 18 15 -- 81
SILVERDALE (40) – Botts 6, Qualls 2, Okpara 3, Cline, Delashmitt, Mullins 12, Gibson, Wright 10, Holland 3, Hardaway, Bambrey 4.
McCALLIE (81) – Capazario, Bogaert 10, Kwasigroch 5, Rankin 10, Claridy 11, Stijepovic 21, Robison 2, Poulos 2, Kennebrew, Grissett, Ellliott 4, Salter 4, Craig 12.
3-POINT GOALS: Silverdale 3 (Mullins 2, Holland); McCallie 12 (Bogaert 2, Kwasigroch, Rankin 2, Claridy 2, Stijepovic 5)
THIRD GAME SUMMARY
CENTRAL 6 6 2 7 -- 21
McCALLIE 17 9 20 9 -- 55
CENTRAL (21) – Patillo, Smith 2, Glover 7, Bell 2, Collins 1, R. Watson 2, Sanderfer, Sharpe 2, Sanders 2, Wadley 3.
McCALLIE (55) – Capazario, Bogaert, Kwasigroch 2, Rankin 7, Claridy 5, Stijepovic 14, Robison 2, Poulos 3, Kennebrew, Grissett 3, Elliott 5, Salter 2, Craig 12.
3-POINT GOALS: Central none; McCallie 5 (Rankin, Stijepovic 2, Poulos, Grissett).
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)