By Jim Goorman
Local Sports Journal
Muskegon Catholic Central received big games from Cari Campbell and Adam Callow on Monday night in a 56-44 Class D regional semfinal victory over the Fowler Eagles.
Muskegon Catholic junior guard Adam Callow looks for a shot during Monday’s Class D regional semifinal game against Fowler.Photo/Tim Reilly
That duo poured in 20 points each to lead MCC, which advances to the regional finals to play its old River Valley nemesis, Tri-unity Christian, a 61-44 winner over Kalamazoo Phoenix.
Catholic turned a close first half into a rather convincing win with 38 points in the second half.
It was a case of mediocre shooting for both teams in the first half, which had Catholic leading by a thin 23-21 advantage.
Callow got hot from the outside as he scored a trio of 3-pointers, which kept his team close throughout the opening 16 minutes.
Campbell had two fouls by the 5-minute mark of the first quarter yet played superbly by scoring six straight points in the second quarter on post moves. All three buckets were assisted by John Daniel.
Callow scored his 3-pointers in succession after Campbell’s power moves and it was those 12 points which gave MCC the slim advantage at half.
Fowler was plagued with a very poor shooting evening, but their constant changing defenses helped to keep MCC off guard in the opening half.
Andy Birchmeier brought the Eagles fans to their feet in the third quarter as he hit two 3s and led his team to a 29-29 stalemate at the 2:49 minute mark.
After Coach Lamar Jordan called a time out, it was all MCC to finish the third quarter, led by Daniel. He fed an alley oop to Campbell, passed to Campbell that led to a bucket off a post move and fed Callow for a layup. MCC went into the final quarter with a 35-29 advantage after that 6-0 run.
The fourth quarter marked the biggest lead of the night for the Crusaders as they had to dodge a courageous fight to the finish by the Eagles.
Free throws were the catalyst as John Daniel hit 5-of-6. Callow also added 3 to help the Crusaders play in their second straight regional final.
A very contented Lamar Jordan felt that his team played their kind of game against Fowler
“Our No. 1 option was to go to Cari (Campbell) inside and it was good to see Callow combine with him to have good break out games,” Coach Jordan said. “The key to our game is to stay poised and to counter their – point shots and we did that.”
Jordan is hoping “3 is a charm” against Tri Unity, which defeated the Crusaders twice during the regular season. “Our difficult regular season schedule will help us.”
Campbell and Callow finished with 20 each while Birchmeier had four 3-pointers to lead the Eagles.
Muskegon Catholic 56, Fowler 44
MUSKEGON CATHOLIC
Campbell 9 2-4 20 Callow 6 4-5 20 Daniel 1 5-7 7 McCollum 2 1 -2 3 VanFossen 1 0-0 2 Jordan III 1 0-0 2 Totals 19 12-18 56.
FOWLER
George 3 0-0 9 Simon 2 3-4 7 Schmitt 1 1-2 3 Birchmeier 4 0-0 12 Cook 2 0-0 4 Koenigskecht 1 1-2 3 Buhr 1 2-2 4 Totals: 13 5-8 44.
MCC 11-12-12-21–56
Fowler 10-11-8-15 –44
Three pointers: Callow (4), Birchmeier (4), George (3). Technical fouls: none
