Tom Bean kept up the intensity level for the entire game, and brought out some worried faces from the Wildcats with a late, second half surge. However, Callisburg kept their cool and were able to record a safe and solid win that they will surely build from. Callisburg’s Willy Smith recorded a staggering 21 points on the night, while junior Jake Garner led the Tomcats with 12 points of his own.

“Coach was telling us to keep on going to the hole, and I think we executed better," said Garner about the Tomcats’ much improved second half.  "We figured stuff out and made the right adjustments, so we came out with a better second half. I think our defense was alright in the first half; we just gave them too many easy buckets. In the second half, our offense increased, but our defense decreased. We can’t have that.”

Varsity Coach Kevin Colston seems to have the team always coming out fired up and ready to go, but is finding wins hard to come by as the season hits full swing.

“We couldn’t get any baskets in the first half," said Colston when asked about the loss.  "We played good defense, however we just couldn’t get any baskets. Our offense wasn’t that good in the first half.” 

After a game against Blue Ridge on Friday, the Cats will enter into a small holiday break. It’s at these times during the season that teams have the best chance to really work on problems they might have.

“We basically need to work on offensive execution, and we still didn’t play defense the way we are capable of playing defense," said Colston.  "We just have to get more aggressive at that, and we also only shot 47% from the free-throw line. We have got to get better shooting our free-throws, as well."

For the Tomcats, a holiday break is just what the doctor ordered. This now gives them a chance to relax after a, so far, hectic season, and to really concentrate on improving certain aspects of their playing system.