Calahan was “Money” on Friday night at Meadowdale. He cashed in four 3-pointers, hard-driving layups and pull-up 15-footers for 32 points to lead the Bison to a 77-58 City League victory.
“To be honest, when I saw the first shot go in, I know it’s my night,” Calahan said.
Calahan ignited an 13-0 first-quarter run that put Belmont (6-4, 4-1) in control. He scored in the lane then hit back-to-back 3-pointers, the second in transition. After Meadowdale (2-8, 1-4) cut the Bison lead from 14 to 6 in the second quarter, Calahan made consecutive 15-footers to spark another run that led to a 37-24 halftime lead.
“He’s a good ballplayer – real heady, real smart,” Belmont coach Art Winston said. “Once he gets going you just sit back and watch him play.”
Calahan’s teammates on the floor didn’t just watch, but they did defer to the hot hand who is second on the team in scoring (13.1) to senior guard Denzell Ogle (15.3). Calahan, as the point guard, and Winston as the coach who knows when to feed the hot hand, called sets for Calahan to score coming off screens. When the driving lane was open, he took advantage, and when it wasn’t he dropped dimes for several assists.
“He was hot, so the rest of the team just fed off it,” Winston said. “Whatever play he would call or I would call, they knew that when he came off the screen, he was going to take that shot.”
The best thing for Belmont, which is surging after some down seasons, is that the seniors and juniors leading the team have a lot of varsity experience, can all score and are playing well together.
“We’ve got better chemistry,” said Winston, who is in his 13th season coaching the Bison. “They understand what they’ve got to do and how to do it, when to do it, when you turn it on, when to step up in big moments. The thing I like about them is that, on any given night, anybody can get us 18 to 20 points. You keep doing that on a consistent basis, it’s hard to scout.”
Belmont is in Division I and hasn’t won a tournament game since 2018. This year’s team has goals to change that.
“Honestly, I’ll put them up against anybody,” Winston said. “We can get no worse than playing Centerville for the last three years. It’ll be fun to get them in the tournament and get them an opportunity to play.”
Meadowdale, which won a Division III district title two seasons ago and won 16 games last year in Division II, is trying to find chemistry after losing 10 seniors and two young players who would have started. Senior Sean Caldwell (18.4) and junior Quentin Jones (16.8) entered the game 1-2 in the league in scoring. Caldwell was held to 10 and Jones 12.
The Lions are now led by Dwayne Chastain Jr. After coaching the JV team for two years, he took over this season for his dad, Dwayne Chastain Sr., who took a new job in the school district that doesn’t allow him to coach. Chastain Jr. played on Thurgood Marshall’s 2014 state tournament team. He was not surprised by the way Calahan and the Bison played.
“They’re and up and down team, and they have every position filled, and they’re all good,” he said. “They have a point guard (Calahan) and you can see what he did tonight. He’s all over the floor. He runs the team, he gets those guys together, and even when he’s not scoring, he’s impacting the game with his grit and tenacity.”
Last year in a home loss to Meadowdale, Calahan scored 38 points.
“We lost so it really didn’t mean nothing,” he said. “I came back here for 30 again, and made sure we got the win.”
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