Thompson takes down unbeaten Calera in county battle
Published 12:09 am Wednesday, November 20, 2019
The Thompson Warriors handed the Calera Eagles their first loss of the young basketball season behind a strong fourth-quarter comeback. (Reporter photo/Keith McCoy)
By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Sports Editor
ALABASTER – Trailing by six points heading to the final quarter of play, the Thompson Warriors were able to put together a 16-point fourth quarter to pull off a 75-67 comeback victory against previous unbeaten Calera on Tuesday, Nov. 19, in front of a home crowd.
The Warriors trailed 55-49 at the end of the third quarter after Calera had put together back-to-back quarters of 20-plus points, but behind eight points from Chaney Johnson and a 7-8 mark from the free throw line, Thompson scored 26 points in the final period to pull off the late comeback.
Johnson finished the matchup with a game-high 21 points and was one of four scorers to finish in double figures for the Warriors.
Early in the contest, both teams got off to similar starts in what was expected to be a compelling game.
Johnson and Brad Lewis each posted four points for Thompson as part of an 11-point quarter for the Warriors, while Calera battled to nine points behind four from Jordan Eggleston.
Both teams seemed to get comfortable after feeling each other out in the opening quarter, which led to the most exciting period of the game in the second frame.
Both teams scored 20-plus points in the quarter with the Eagles posting 25 and the Warriors posting 23, which led to an even 34-34 tie at the halftime break.
Thompson’s impressive second quarter was highlighted by 10 points from Jack Dorolek, including two 3-pointers, while Grant Hopkins and Steven Walker added four and five points, respectively.
Calera was able to keep pace and eventually outscore the Warriors in the quarter thanks in large part to 10 points from Keshawn Haynes.
The Eagles carried that confidence into the third period with their second quarter of 20-plus points in a row.
This time around, it was Xzayvion Childress who caught fire, draining two 3-pointers and totaling eight points in the quarter, while Isaiah Green added five to play a part in 21 more points for the Eagles.
Thompson couldn’t keep up with the torrid offensive pace of Calera in the third quarter only scoring 15 points, but thanks to Johnson adding eight points in the frame, the Warriors were at least able to stay within striking distance at 55-49 heading to the final period.
That strong end to the third quarter for Johnson seemed to build his confidence. In the fourth, he added eight more to his second-half total of 16 points to help spark the comeback attempt.
Thompson started the quarter on a 17-7 run to take a 66-62 lead with 1:52 to play, and the Warriors were able to hold on from that point with free throw shooting down the stretch to close out the eight-point victory.
Dorolek and Lewis each finished the game with 14 points, while Hopkins added 10 for the Warriors, who had a total of eight players score in the win.
Green and Haynes led Calera with 13 points, while Eggleston added 10 points for three double-digit scorers.
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