The Cavaliers of Calvert made the short trip down Route 4 to take on the Patuxent Panthers Thursday, Dec. 11. The game at Patuxent was a blackout with every Patuxent supporter dressed in all black, including the team, who came out dressed in their traditional black away uniforms.

The Calvert supporters who made the trip were dressed in all blue. As the game progressed, each student section made chants towards each other. In the end, the Patuxent crowd got the last word, as their team held off the Cavaliers.

When the game started, Calvert was hampered by their lack of speed. Patuxent jumped out to a quick 8-0 lead. Calvert began to feed the ball to their senior guard Brendan Hempstead, who scored all 9 points for the team in the quarter.  Meanwhile, Patuxent was getting scoring from its entire starting five in bunches.  At the end of the first quarter, Patuxent was up 17-9.

When the second quarter began, Calvert’s shots began to fall. Highlighted by a Hempstead three pointer over a defender, they pulled the game to within 7 points.

Then junior guard Darrus Maddox began to pull the trigger on his open looks and made them. He scored 9 points in the quarter, the other 3 points going to junior forward Jaquan Kelley.

In the third quarter, Patuxent began to turn the ball over, and Calvert senior guard Richard Kidwell capitalized on his fast break opportunities.

Patuxent’s baskets came from sophmore guard Chris Pendleton, and sophmore center Vonnie Watkins. They combined for all 11 Panther points in the quarter.

Calvert made it a 6-point game going into the fourth quarter. The Cavs rode their momentum into the final period, and pulled within two points with 5 minutes left.

Patuxent snatched the lead right back when sophmore guard Terrell Gross knocked down a 3-pointer in the corner, then immediately forced a turnover on the inbound, and made the lay-up to put the Panthers up by 7.

Patuxent then went on a hot streak and couldn’t miss. They poured in threes and twos from all around the court. Calvert tried to keep up, but could not  stop the momentum. When the final buzzer sounded, the score was 54-48 Patuxent, and the raucous home crowd frantically chanted,  “ I believe that we just won”.

The leading scorers from the game were Panthers Darrus Maddox and Brendan Hempstead, who both scored 20 points. The second leading scorer for Calvert was senior point guard Richard Kidwell, who finished with 11 points. The second leading scorer for Patuxent was sophomore center Vonnie Watkins, who finished with 12 points.

Patuxent improves to 1-4 on the season, and moves on to play Northern next Friday, Dec. 19.

Calvert drops to 0-2, and moves on to play at Marshall High School Monday  Dec. 15.

Contact Max Tayman at news@thebaynet.com