Despite being leg-weary going into its third game in six days, the McCallie basketball team had enough depth to outlast Brainerd and claim a 70-60 home win Saturday night.
As has been their tendency this season, the Blue Tornado came at Brainerd in waves, often subbing five for five, and had 14 players get playing time in the first quarter alone. That helped them build an early lead, survive a couple of scoring runs by the Panthers and pull away in the second half.
"We've got a lot of players -- that's our strength," McCallie first-year coach John Shulman said. "I like having plural players who can really play, and we try to wear teams down.
"If we don't press and try to feed off defense and turnovers, that wouldn't be very smart because we have a lot of athletic kids who can run and play."
A 5-0 run to end the first quarter helped McCallie claim its first lead, and junior JayVaughn Craig's three consecutive 3-pointers pushed the lead to double digits early in the second. But by the midway point of that quarter Brainerd had fought back with a 12-9 run to retake the lead.
McCallie(17-2) answered with a strong finish just before halftime and despite making just 2 of 14 first-half free throws, rebuilt a five-point advantage.
The Blue Tornado, who had lost two straight earlier in the week after being ranked No. 1 in the state in Division II, then began the second half on a 9-1 run and never allowed the lead to dip below three the rest of the way.
"We made a lot of tired mistakes," Brainerd coach Levar Brown said. "They wore us down a lot, and every time we would make a run they would answer. And then they would come back with fresh guys and didn't really miss a beat.
"We made a lot of mental mistakes as we got more and more tired, and that cost us."
Craig led a balanced McCallie scoring display with 13 points, while Adrian Thomas, Jordan Atkins and Robert Riddle each added 10. Brainerd's Da'V Moore led all scorers with 23 points.
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293.