MADISON VS. CALLOWAY CO. KY
12-06-02
BY JACK BULLOCK
BENTON, KY. - The Madison Trojans romped to an easy 75-59 victory over Calloway County, Ky. Friday night at the Marshall County, Ky. Hoopfest.

Led by game MVP Travonti Walker with 16 points and 12 rebounds, the Trojans won their fourth consecutive game to start the season.

According to coach Al Collins, this team is much more focused than the young group that lost in the sectional finals a year ago.

"This group is a year older and they are showing more patience on the offensive end, which was a problem for us last season," said Collins, who has announced that this will be his last season as Madison coach.

Granted this wasn't what you would call a flashy game reminiscent of some of the Trojans' triumphs last year, Madison steadily increased its advantage over a clearly outmatched (at least athletically) Calloway County squad.

"That was a very good basketball team we lost to tonight," said Calloway coach Terry Birdsong, whose team fell to 1-1 on the young season. "They played hard every trip and that is a sign of a good team. I suspect that they have a few weaknesses, but are teams going to be good enough to expose them?"

The Trojans were somewhat sluggish in the first few minutes, but then opened up a close game by making a quick run to go up 20-13 at the end of one.

Gradually Madison began to pull away.

At one point out scoring the Lakers on a 12-2 run, the Green and White clad team led 42-28 at the half.

Calloway County got no closer than 11 the rest of the way.

Four other Trojans hit double-digits in the scoring column. Rico Newsome, a slender 6-6 senior, added 15 points by making five-for-seven 3-pointers.

Both Robert Kennedy and Maurice Hughes scored 13 each. The 6-9 Kennedy hit 6-9 shots and pulled down nine boards.

The 6-3 Hughes hit 5-of-10 shots from the field. Rickey Salmond came off the bench to score 12 points. Other than Newsome canning the 3's, the other four combined to hit 21-of-38 field goals. (.552)

Michael McClure, a 61- senior guard, posted a game-high 19 points while teammates Jimmy Bynum and Logan Walker added 17 and 11 points.

The Trojans schedule doesn't get much easier as they take on Mount Vernon and Centralia in their next two games next week.