February 20, 1999

Calvert's Senecas rich in wins

By Dave Feltner
Sports Editor

There was no song composed by Queen blaring from the Calvert lockerroom, which is usually the custom when championships are won these days.

Instead, the music of choice was Pink Floyd's ''Money.''

That's pretty fitting, too, considering the Senecas have been money this season. And Friday night, they finally got some dividends.

The Senecas whipped St. Wendelin, 95-64, to clinch a share of the Midland Athletic League championship, the school's first in boys basketball since the 1988-89 season.

''You have to earn it,'' Calvert coach Tony Mass said. ''It's like I told the kids at halftime, 'Nobody's going to give it to you.' St. Wendelin didn't come in here an lay down.

''In this league, MAL championships can be few and far between,'' he said. ''Number one, you've got 11 teams to begin with, so any given year someone could spring out of nowhere, and you only get one shot (at each team), so it's a hard thing to earn. But we've earned it. And it's nice to win at home in front of our fans. They've been great to us all year.''

The fans got a treat early in the second quarter when Eric Welty lofted an ally-oop pass for Dan Walter who emphatically slammed home two points for a 19-14 Calvert lead.

It was that kind of night for Walter, who was a threat all over the floor. He finished with 27 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three 3-pointers.

It was his play, along with Dustyn Risner's (21 points), that allowed Calvert to break the game open in the third quarter.

Thanks to some hot shooting from the field (17-of-29) St. Wendelin was within five (40-35) at halftime. But a Walter 3-pointer found the mark to start the third, and Risner scored twice in transition and added a baseline jumper to fuel a 13-4 run that had Calvert on top, 53-39.

Risner scored 11 of the Senecas' 27 third-quarter points, and by quarter's end Calvert had a 67-50 advantage.

''Calvert's a good rebounding team,'' St. Wendelin coach Chris LeForge said. ''And there's an old saying that you can't get out and go unless you rebound. And they hit the boards hard, and then they're off to the races. They're a good running club, and we got caught flatfooted. That hurt us big time.''

Calvert's transition game resulted in numerous layups, allowing the Senecas to shoot 60 percent (39-of-65) from the field. That total included 6-of-10 3-pointers.

Joe Walter (12) and Joe Harvey (10) gave Calvert four double-figure scorers.

St. Wendelin was led by Ryan Ritzler's 16 points. Brian Huber scored 14 and Jerod Guillen pitched in 10.

''St. Wendelin was doing what we wanted in the first half. The only problem was they were hitting that shot,'' Mass said. ''Whatever defense we're in, it is designed to fan everything out into the corners, and we were not getting to that shooter. We adjusted to that, as far as where our positioning was, in the second half and got to their shooters a little better.

''I told our kids in the lockerroom that I'm proud of them,'' he said. ''The big thing that I'm proud of them for is that they've managed to keep it together despite all of the distractions, the rescheduling of five games, three due to football, and two due to the weather. With football and girls basketball and tournaments coming up, it's been an exciting year around here athletically.''

Literally, a banner year.