By STEPHEN MONAHAN

Sports Editor

VALLEY VIEW — Callisburg’s playoff flame continues to burn after the Wildcats picked up a crucial 59-44 win Friday in District 10-2A against Valley View.

Langston Jones, who has come on of late offensively, led the team with 22 points, including 12 in the second quarter alone, while Ben Fisk chipped in 10.

For Callisburg Coach Brian Bradford, Jones’ surge late in district play is due to his continual learning of the system.

“Slowly he’s learning our offense, our defense and how he fits in to the chemistry,” Bradford said, “and he’s finally getting his confidence around the basket.”

But while Jones’ contributions have been huge to their success, Bradford said the team’s depth off the bench plays maybe even a bigger role offensively, but against the Eagles the second time around, the coach didn’t see his team perform as well as he would have liked on offense.

“We didn’t execute on offense as much as I would like to have seen,” he said, “but we won and so I think we’re sitting all right.”

Coming into Friday’s game, the Wildcats held third place in the district, and if they win their final three games, there’s a good chance the team could take sole possession of second place.

Callisburg (19-7, 7-4 district) ran off the first seven points of the game thanks to buckets from Jones, Fisk and Oscar Gutierrez, who finished with eight points on the night.

Scott Willis ended the run with a 3-pointer to make it 7-3.

Alex Averill chipped in a couple of field goals late in the quarter to help Callisburg take a 15-8 lead into the second frame.

Jones pushed that lead to 17-8 early in the second, but the Eagles went on an 8-0 run to cut the lead to 17-16.

Willis scored on a jump shot and nailed a 3-point shot while Cameron Vesperman added a bucket during the run.

Jones ended Callisburg’s scoring drought with a jumper in the paint, pushing the lead to 19-16. The basket was part of an 8-2 run for the Wildcats, lasting nearly three and a half minutes.

Mark Brown hit a 3-point shot to cut Callisburg’s lead to 25-21, but Jones rattled off two more buckets plus Taylor Dishman swished a 3-pointer to give the Wildcats a 32-21 lead at halftime.

“They came out and played with a lot more direction than we did tonight,” Coach Bradford said of Valley View. “They’re a good team. They’ve got guys that will come out and play hard.

“They a did a little bit different half court press this time and it slowed down our offense and our fast break game down a little bit.”

An 8-4 run by the Eagles to start the second half cut the lead to 36-29 with 3:51 left in the third frame.

But Callisburg answered with six straight points thanks to back-to-back baskets from Gutierrez and a jumper from Dishman, pushing the Wildcat lead to 13 points at 42-29.

Back-to-back shots from beyond the arc from Cole Rauschuber and Dustyn Whetzel breathed a little bit of life back into the Eagles as they trailed 42-35 heading into the fourth quarter.

In the final frame, Callisburg kept its composure, outscoring the Eagles 16-9, including 8-of-10 shooting from the free throw line.

Also scoring for Callisburg were Averill who finished with 6 points and Dishman added 5. Dallas Tate scored 3 points, Logan Eddleman and Matt Adams each chipped in 2 and James Bryant finished with 1.

For Valley View, Willis finished with a team-high 13 points, Vesperman added 10, Brown scored 8, Rauschuber chipped in 6, Tanner Marcom and Whetzel each scored 3 and David Zimmerer had 1.

Zimmerer, Rauschuber, Cody Marcom and Vesperman played their final home game for the Eagles and were recognized prior to the start of Friday’s game.