The McCallie Blue Tornado defense folds the Chattanooga Christian Chargers, 54-21, in a hostile crowd inside of Bosworth Gymnasium.
Bosworth Gymnasium was as packed as Rupp Arena for the showdown, but the anticipation and excitement quickly transitioned to the McCallie students within minutes of tip-off.
McCallie’s key to success was to force turnovers, play your zone, and be physical. Put simply, it was all about defense for the Blue Tornado, and they gave the Chargers plenty of fits.
Young standout point guard Reid Conley for CCS started the game hot, but McCallie (19-1, 2-0)began to settle into their zones and force the ball away from Conley. Kollin Claridy was the Blue Tornado’s leading scorer in the first half with eight points, and a couple of baskets came from his defensive play by forcing turnovers and running the fastbreak.
McCallie’s methodical but steady play wore down the Chargers throughout the half and began to frustrate their opponent. They forced more shots, passes, and had trouble handling the ball against the pressure. The Blue Tornado was an unstoppable frenzy on the court.
By halftime, McCallie had a firm grasp of the lead and were up by 17 points, Wilson Rankin began to pour in baskets from behind the arc and with layups. Rankin silenced the towering Charger’s student section, sitting only an arms length away from the court, with every shot he put up.
The towering McCallie big man, David Craig, finished with nine points, a handful of rebounds, blocks, and capitalized it all with a ferocious dunk off a fast break in the third quarter.
The most successful quarter for CCS came in the fourth quarter when Conley and Graham both connected from beyond the 3-point line.
The offensive spark was too little, too late as the Blue Tornado picked up the win, their 19th of the season, and continued their 18 game win streak.
“We are trying to create defense as our identity and create a culture where we enjoy guarding our guys,” said McCallie head coach David Conrady. “It is good to see our guys have success with that. They were locked in and understood what to do. They kept CCS from doing what they wanted to do.”
To add to that, the Blue Tornado defense held the Chargers to allowing only four players scoring, an impressive feat for any team. The Blue Tornado seeks to keep rolling as they travel to go against the Webb Spartans (17-2) on January 25.
“We are missing two starters, so we needed our seniors to step up,” added Conrady. “Kollin (Clarridy) and Wilson (Rankin) both stepped up and had some good looks early. Some did not go in, but they hung with it, and they kept playing the game the right way. They made the right plays and good things happened for us.”
For the Chargers, they fall to 6-7 in the season with hopes to get back to .500 against Notre Dame on January 24th.
SUMMARY
McCALLIE 13 15 13 13 – 54
CHATT CHRISTIAN 6 5 2 8 – 21
McCALLIE (54) – Wilson Rankin 17, Kollin Claridy 11, Craig 9, Kwasigroch 6, Hamilton 5, Robison 5, Grissett 1.
CHATT CHRISTIAN (21) – Reid Conley 11, Graham 5, Bauldwin 3, Irvin 2.
3-POINT GOALS: McCallie 5 (Rankin 3, Robison, Claridy); Chattanooga Christian 2 (Conley and Graham).
(Contact Jacob Robinson at jjacobrobinson2001@gmail.com)