Basketball Preview: Calhoun Red Devils vs. Clay County Panthers
Calhoun is 1-9 against the Panthers since January of 2018 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Monday. The Calhoun Red Devils will head out on the road to challenge the Clay County Panthers at 7:00 p.m. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Calhoun has three straight wins, the Panthers have four straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Calhoun scored the most points they've had all season to find success on Friday. They claimed a resounding 87-50 win over Valley at home. With Calhoun ahead 46-23 at the half, the contest was all but over already.
Calhoun can attribute much of their success to Dylan Buckius, who scored 23 points along with three steals, and Landon Bennett, who went 10 for 18 from beyond the arc en route to 36 points and 1 assist. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Bennett has scored all season. Tyler Whited was another key contributor, scoring eight points along with two steals.
Meanwhile, Clay County had to suffer through a rough 69-34 loss at the hands of the Highlanders. While losing is never fun, Clay County can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' West Virginia basketball rankings (they are ranked 122nd, while the Highlanders are ranked 27th).
The victory got Calhoun back to even at 7-7. As for Clay County, their defeat was their eighth straight at home dating back to last season, which dropped their record down to 1-10.
Calhoun was able to grind out a solid win over the Panthers when the teams last played back in February of 2023, winning 53-41. The rematch might be a little tougher for Calhoun since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
