Caledonia boys basketball will host a first round playoff game for the first time in 19 years tonight.
Senatobia will travel to face the Cavaliers at 7 p.m.
According to Cavaliers head coach Jonathan Comer and athletic director Josh Scott, the Cavaliers have not hosted a first-round game since 2006, and only hosted a second-round game once in that time, in 2018.
The Cavaliers, 18-8, secured a home game after a run to the district championship game last week.
“We went in as the three seed and matched up with hosts Greenwood,” Comer said. “We upset them and that gave us a home playoff game and put us in the district championship against Kosciusko.”
The Cavaliers fell 70-33 in the final, but locked up their best district finish under Comer in his third season as head coach. It was a season of highs and lows, but two clutch wins down the stretch saw the Cavaliers secure a place in the postseason.
“We went in with a plan, the kids executed in front of a packed Greenwood crowd and it was real fun to be a part of that,” he said. “What put us in the district tournament was a win at Louisville in our last division game to give us a tiebreaker, that was huge for us. They beat us by 15 at home so we returned the favor at their place and that gave us an opportunity without having a play-in game.”
The Cavs’ leading scorer, Chris Blevins, had 20 points in the 57-53 win over Greenwood, with Ethan Halbert and Charlie Sullivan joining him in double digits with 17 and 12 points, respectively.
Comer calls them “hoopers” because basketball is life for a lot of his players, and he’s glad to see their commitment rewarded with a home playoff game.
“I’ve got a young group,” he said. “Our starting lineup has two freshmen, a sophomore and two juniors, but they’ve gained a ton of experience that has helped us. They’ve really just bought into us as coaches and the collectiveness of that, playing as a unit, that’s what has got us to this point. We’ve shot the ball well but they understand what needs to be done.”
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