Pirates Bucked by Colts in Boys Basketball

For three quarters of the league matchup between Mepham and their rivals from Calhoun, it was a tight game -- unfortunately for the Pirates, the first quarter counts too.

Calhoun jumped on Mepham early and often, racing to a 20-6 lead en route to a 50-30 win on Tuesday night. Mepham is now 0-2 to start the season, while Calhoun is 1-1.

"We just didn't show up tonight mentally," Mepham coach Rich Wojcieski said.  "[Calhoun] was big down low, Wigand had a big game and we just didn't have an answer for him tonight."

That would be Calhoun center John Wigand. The senior missed much of Calhoun's opener last week because of foul trouble. The Pirates weren't so lucky on this night, as Wigand's presence in the paint paced the Colts early, grabbing 13 boards and registering five blocks en route to leading all scorers with 21 points.

"He's very difficult to deal with down low and so if he stays on the floor, we're a different team and we showed that tonight," Calhoun coach Jay Kreutzberger said.

The Calhoun pressure seemed to get into the Pirates' heads, as turnovers, usually in the form of travel calls, led to Colt baskets throughout the first half.  Mepham settled down somewhat in the second frame, but still found themselves down 33-17 at the half.

Mepham's J.T. Elsasser tried to get the Pirates going in the second half, draining a couple threes.  Calhoun suddenly went cold, not hitting a field goal until the midway point of the third. But Calhoun's guards eventually found Wigand wide open again for a couple of scores, and Mepham couldn't go on any sustained run.

Elsasser led the Pirates with 10 points.  Jordan Gilroy added nine, with Daniel Kaminsky and Chris Shevins adding four points each in the losing effort.

"We came out, we weren't intense and that's what happens," Mepham guard Kyle Wechsler said. 

Mepham was forced to play catch up throughout, taking a lot of shots from beyond the arc, hitting four, but that's not the gameplan Wojcieski had in mind.

"At halftime we worked on that, we didn't want to throw up three-pointers," he said.  "We wanted to chip away with two's ... we need to just stick to our game, and [Calhoun] got us out of our game early."

There's a lot for the Pirates to work on in the next week, with their next game at home next Tuesday, Dec.21, against crosstown rival Kennedy. Mepham players are already thinking about how to handle Calhoun the next time they play in January.

"[We'll] keep working hard in practice, we'll see them again, we'll come out hard, play hard and beat them," Wechsler said.