ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, January 18, 1996 TAG: 9601180033
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
TYPE: HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
Darrell Calloway can't explain it.
Nobody can explain it.
We know he did it. The proof is right there on the tape.
Four times in two games, Calloway, the 5-foot-11 senior who plays forward for the Christiansburg High basketball team, produced team-saving, blood pressure -raising, coach-praising, opponent-dazing shots in the clutch.
These weren't just any clutch shots, either. These were the kind that some players spend their whole basketball-playing lives dreaming of (or dreading) having a chance to make.
Marion is leading 56-54 with six seconds left and has a guy at the line trying to complete a 3-point play. The foul shot is errant and Calloway is there to inhale the rebound. Adios say the Scarlet Hurricane defenders as he goes coast-to-coast for a layup that ties the score and sends the game into overtime where ...
The score is tied with time winding down and Christiansburg's Jesse McHose is hurrying to the right side of the key where he takes an off-balance jumper. Off. The ball bounces long to Calloway, who had popped out to the top of the key looking for some open floor had McHose decided to pass it off. Calloway then buries the rock with the gusto of a pirate interring a chest of doubloons.
Final: Christiansburg 65-63.
The Blue Demons trail Galax the entire game and are 67-64 in arrears with seconds left. Christiansburg is still breathing (although a mirror under the nostrils would have been needed to prove it), but its only chance is to somehow execute an inbounds play from under its own bucket and maneuver the basketball into position for a 3-point shot.
Oh, yeah. And someone has to make the shot.
That fellow is, Darrell Calloway, who goes aloft to take a pass at the left of the top of the key, whirls - while still in midair - and bull's-eyes a triple at the buzzer, thus setting up the first overtime in which he ...
Scores all seven of his team's points. But that isn't all. The last three came with Christiansburg again on the hook with a three-point deficit.
It's looking really grim now that a Galax guy has completed a three-point play. But the intrepid Calloway takes the inbounds pass, takes a couple of dribbles past midcourt and lets fly with a shot from a spot approximately halfway between midcourt and the top of the key.
Bank.
Bang.
The second overtime, exhausted Christiansburg holds the ball on the way to a 79-75 victory. Calloway's contribution to the second extra period is minimal.
He'd done enough.
``Four buzzer-beaters in two games,'' Christiansburg coach Gerald Thompson said. ``If I'd had better tapes, I would have been sending them to ESPN.''
Calloway would like to offer some insight into these heroics, he really would. But he can't.
``At the time, I just wasn't thinking about it,'' he said.
In truth, there was really only one way to approach each of the situations and Calloway found it.
``Pray,'' he said.
That's not all Christiansburg has done to win nine out of its first 10. The Demons have gotten it done with the shooting of guys such as Brian Porter, Carlton Ashbrook and McHose and the inside banging of musclemen such as Mike Kazee and David Rhudy.
But it would be hard to imagine Christiansburg having the kind of record it does without the versatile Calloway.
``He's a great kid,'' Thompson said. ``He really only has one problem and that is he may be a little too nice.''
Calloway certainly wasn't very nice to Marion or Galax, but he did give them a nice smile afterward.
``It did make me feel good,'' he said.
Calloway has been making his coaches and teammates feel pretty fine all year with his exploits. To date, he's leading the team in scoring (16.7 ppg), rebounding (10.5 rpg), steals (2.8 per game), assists (4.1 apg), and is second in field goal shooting (58.3 percent).
The one category in which he's lagging is in field goal percentage. He came into the year over 60 percent for his career. The guy just doesn't take a bad shot.
Unless you happen to be observing them from the perspective of the Galax or Marion bench.
LENGTH: Medium: 92 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: RAY COX/Staff. Christiansburg High School's new clutchby CNBhero, Darrell Calloway: If he could offer some insight into how he
made his shots, he really would. But he can't. ``At the time, I just
wasn't thinking about it,'' he said. color.