Calhoun Boys Basketball Can't Catch a Break in Loss

Perhaps they changed the size of the rim in the Calhoun High School gym over the last few days.

That's doubtful, but that must have been what the Colts were thinking Thursday night against Freeport.  Shot after shot, layup after layup simply would not roll in, and the Red Devils rolled to a 60-37 win, dropping Calhoun to 2-2.

"Our shots weren't really falling," Colts guard Chad Fuschillo said. "We lost our composure, took us out of the game."

Freeport is unbeaten at 6-0, but the Colts tried to hang tough early on, getting several good looks underneath.  It's only a matter of inches, but that's all that's needed for a ball to roll the wrong way, turning probable points into fresh Freeport opportunities.

"We executed in the first quarter but because things just would not go down, it kind of sapped our energy a little bit," Colts coach Jay Kreutzberger said.  "From there we made mistakes we haven't been making the first few weeks of the season."

That included turnovers and offensive fouls, though the latter is understandable, as players tried to work through the frustration of near-misses and drive more aggressively to the paint.

Fuschillo (10 points) hit a jumper early in the second to bring Calhoun within nine, but Freeport's Danny Andre soon hit a three to extend the lead once more, and the Colts trailed 33-18 at the half.

Any thought of a Calhoun rally was quickly extinguished early in the third, as Jere Brown and Andre  hit back to back threes, making it 39-18 Freeport. 

The Colts' frustration could be summed up shortly after, as Danny Trepel was all alone after a steal, but couldn't get his layup to fall, and John Wigand's put-back failed to find the net as well.  Wigand led the Colts with 13.

"We got a few easy baskets, then in that third quarter we really ran our offense well against [Calhoun's] zone," Freeport coach Bob DeBonis said.  "We hit some shots and that opened the game up."

To cap off the Red Devils' 20-9 third, Andre's floater took a few seconds, but eventually dropped in at the buzzer.  Quite appropriate on this night, and in the fourth it was time to empty the benches. 

Freeport is a team loaded with athleticism, the extent of which surprised everyone on the Calhoun side.

"I didn't anticipate they were as good an interior passing team as they were," Kreutzberger said.  "[Freeport] really moved the ball into the middle of the zone and out effectively...perhaps we should have gone with a different defense."

Frustration will rear its head on more than one occasion over the course of a season, and it's how the Colts handle it that could be a determining factor in how things go when play resumes Wednesday afternoon against Garden City.

"In those moments where things are not going your way, you have to dig deep for the intensity and the focus and desire to change things around," Kreutzberger said. "Hopefully in the future we do better at that."

And getting the basketball gods to widen that rim a bit wouldn't hurt either.