Red Devils Singe Colts

The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.  So goes the famous line from the film, 'The Usual Suspects."

Calhoun may have fallen for the trick at halftime last Friday, holding a two point lead over the Freeport Red Devils.  The Colts would soon realize the devil does exist, and he wears number four. 

Jared Staton scored 23 of his career high 32 points in the second half, leading a Freeport charge that helped put away visiting Calhoun, 72-57.  It was the fifth straight loss for the 3-6 Colts.

You can forgive Calhoun for forgetting about the devil for a while.  The Colts had everything working early on, from the rebounding and inside scoring of center John Wigand (17 points), to the perimeter game of guard Devon Pazmino (15 points).

Pazmino hit a three as time expired in the first to bring Calhoun to within one, and forward Andrew Leif (16 points) gave his club their first lead with a basket to open the second.  The Colts maintained their intensity throughout the quarter, forcing Freeport into turnovers and offensive fouls.

After the game, Freeport coach Bob DeBonis said at least one of his players arrived late, throwing his rotation off, and perhaps explaining his club's flat play early on.

Once the Red Devils got their second, or perhaps first wind, the game took an ugly turn for Calhoun.  Freeport began picking up the pace in transition, led by Staton and guard Danny Andre (21 points).

"They got us to play their tempo, and I think when we started racing they started getting easier baskets, and the game got away from us," Colts coach Jay Kreutzberger said.

Calhoun tried to keep up with Freeport down the court, but were outraced, and outscored, 28-17 in the frame.

"[Calhoun] beat us to the punch on a number of occasions in the first half," DeBonis said.  "Fortunately we were able to turn it around in the second."

"We wore down," Wigand said.  "[Freeport] started finding our weak spots, crashing the basket, our help defense stopped working."

Kreutzberger said he doesn't believe his players wore down; it was a matter of being forced to play down, or in this case up, to their opponents' level.  He praised his team's effort, hoping it carries over to the court for all four quarters the next time out.

"The first half clearly we executed, we had the lead," Kreutzberger said.  "We need to do a better job in the second half of continuing to execute."

The Colts will try to end their slide as league play continues tonight at Mepham with a 6:15 p.m. tip-off.

Download the movie