By DARIN ALLRED

Register Sports Editor

In the 21-year history of the North Central Texas College Holiday Classic, no boys team has won more championships than Callisburg High School and the Wildcats added to that honor by defeating the Gainesville State School Tornadoes 51-46 Wednesday night in the championship game at Lions Fieldhouse on the NCTC campus.

Callisburg, who had not won the Holiday Classic championship since 2003, won their sixth title at the tournament. They also won in 1993, 1994, 2000, 2002 and 2003.

The Tornadoes were impressive in their tournament run, winning four games before falling in the title game. Among their four wins was an earlier pool-game win over the Wildcats. But in Wednesday’s championship game, the State School fell behind early and never could quite catch up.

Callisburg jumped out to a 17-6 lead after the first quarter thanks to eight points from Tracey Randle. The Wildcat lead was 31-23 at halftime, but the Tornadoes closed the gap to two (35-33) going into the fourth.

But in the fourth quarter, Randle scored eight more points to help the Cats to the win.

Randle, who finished with 20 points, was named to the First State Bank All-Tournament team along with teammate Ben Fisk. Taylor Dishman added 11 points for Callisburg, while Quincy Hough added 8, Bobby Dorman had 6, and Fisk and Jamey Brinlee each scored 3.

For the Tornadoes, B. Manuel and I. Dean each scored 12, L. Fautner and C. Williams each added 8, I. Else had 4 and F. Black added 2. Manuel was named the Tournament’s Most Valuable Player. B. Hardeman, who did not play in the championship game, was also named to the All-Tournament team.

Other players named All-Tournament were Howe’s Kenny Herbert, Sacred Heart’s Kevin Kulle and Forestburg’s Chad Reynolds.



Gainesville State School 40

Howe 24

The Gainesville State School Tornadoes moved into the semifinals of the Holiday Classic with a 40-24 win over the Howe Bulldogs Wednesday.

The win moved the Tornadoes into Wednesday night’s championship game against Callisburg.

The Tornadoes led 21-10 at the half and stretched their lead to 34-17 going into the fourth quarter.

Eight of the nine players for the Tornadoes scored in the game. B. Manuel led the way with 10 points, while I. Else added 6.

For Howe, Alex Torres scored 8 points and Kegan Duncan added 7.



Callisburg 73

Sacred Heart 61

Taylor Dishman hit four 3-pointers to lead the Callisburg Wildcats to a 73-61 win over the Sacred Heart Tigers in the semifinals of the Holiday Classic Wednesday.

With the win, the Wildcats moved into Wednesday night’s championship game against Gainesville State School.

Callisburg led 22-16 after the first quarter, but started to put the game away in the second quarter when they outscored the Tigers 25-10.

“That was some of the best six minutes of basketball I have seen in sometime,” Sacred Heart coach Jon LeBrasseur said of the way Callisburg played in that second period. “The Wildcats were very impressive and we could not stop them during that run.”

Dishman finished with 14 points for the Cats, while Jamey Brinlee added 12, Tracey Randle had 11, Bobby Dorman and Ben Fisk each added 9, Quincy Hough had 7, Alex Averill had 6 and Logan Eddleman scored 4.

For Sacred Heart, Kevin Kulle poured in 22 points and had 12 rebounds, Nick Popovich had 15 points, Patrick Mojica scored 8 and dished out 5 assists, John Krawietz added 6, Sam Sparkman had 4, and Ben Walterscheid, Ian Barnhill and Kyle Knabe each scored 2.