By Ross Johnson

Sports Writer

It was a tale of two halves Tuesday night between Region 5-AA rivals Callaway and Heard County.

The Cavaliers erased a 12-point halftime deficit to dominate the Braves after the break, scoring the first 16 points and holding Heard to 13 points for a 60-49 win.

It was a remarkable turnaround for the Cavaliers (14-5, 9-3), who now take sole possession of second place in the region.

Callaway completed a regular-season sweep of the Braves (18-3, 10-3).

“We did it with defense,” said Callaway head coach Terry Hayes. “The second half we played great.”

Heard County’s go-to player in junior Santez Emory had a considerable first half, scoring 17 of his team’s 36 points. The standout was held to just three points after the break due to Callaway’s relentless pressure.

The Braves (18-3, 10-3) didn’t score their first second-half points until 1:20 remaining in the third quarter, and they didn’t score again until less than three minutes left were left in the game, long after the game had been wrapped up by the Cavaliers.

Junior Quantavius Leslie got the scoring started in the second half en route to 19 points.

David Rutledge was next with 17 points, followed by Terrance Jackson with eight and Quan Bray with seven.

The win moves Callaway into second place in the region behind Manchester, with Jordan close behind at 7-4.

The Cavaliers face the Red Jackets on the road Friday.

The Callaway girls didn’t need a second-half comeback in their game.

The Lady Cavaliers (12-8, 7-5 Region 5-AA) outscored Heard 26-5 in the first quarter en route to a 67-22 win over the struggling Lady Braves, who are just 1 -12 in region play.

Erin Anderson led Callaway with 16 points, followed by Jaquincia ‘Binky’ Cameron with 14 and Tersheor Tigner with 12, but a bunch of Lady Cavaliers saw action on the court tonight.

Since Heard didn’t pose much of a threat all night, head coach Albert Gilliam cleared out the bench to allow younger, less experienced players game action.

“With the game well in hand, we just wanted to give everyone some playing time,” Gilliam said.

Callaway is still locked in at fourth place in the region, trailing Macon County (11-1), Jordan (10-1) and Manchester (8-2).

Gilliam wasn’t sure how much the lopsided win helped the team, but was glad to stay in pace for a No. 4 seed in the region tournament, which begins later this month.

“We set the tone early,” Gilliam said. “We need to keep this going.”

The Lady Cavs face region-leading Jordan Friday night on the road.