Big third quarter helps Cougars down Hewitt-Trussville

By Gary Lloyd

Clay-Chalkville outscored visiting Hewitt-Trussville 24-13 in the third quarter and defeated its biggest rival 74-65 on senior night Friday.

After Hewitt-Trussville gritted its way to a 33-31 halftime lead, Clay-Chalkville (20-6) used a 13-0 run in the third quarter to go up seven points. Hewitt-Trussville never got closer than six points the rest of the game.

“I think we got lackadaisical in the third quarter,” said Hewitt-Trussville head coach Zane Arnold. “You look at the scoreboard, that’s the game.”

Senior Cory Judkins had a big night for Clay-Chalkville, leading the Cougars with 18 points and five rebounds. An emphatic alley-oop dunk from senior Marcus Baldwin with less than two minutes to play was the exclamation point for Clay-Chalkville.

“We’ve got that type of chemistry,” Judkins said of himself and Baldwin. “Honestly, I didn’t think I was going to catch it, but I guess my adrenaline gave me that extra foot.”

Baldwin scored 13, and Darius Jordan and Hasan Abdullah contributed 11 points each. Sean Burrell was the fifth Clay-Chalkville player in double figures with 10 points.

Clay-Chalkville head coach Daniel Foy said that his team settling into its defense in the second half was key.

“We really got a good tempo going,” Foy said. “We settled down on defense and did a good job guarding them. We got stops and when we came down on offense, we were more in control.”

Hewitt-Trussville junior guard Jarvis Calhoun led all scorers with 28 points. Junior James Huguely scored 13 points. Senior Matt Duffett scored nine points and grabbed four rebounds before fouling out with 2:30 to play. Junior DeMarcus Kelly blocked three shots.

With the win, Clay-Chalkville has won 20 or more games in back-to-back seasons for the first time in school history.

Contact Gary Lloyd at news@trussvilletribune.com and follow him on Twitter @GaryALloyd.