From staff reports

The Callaway basketball teams lost a pair of tough road games at Spencer on Tuesday.

The boys came out on the wrong end of a back-and-forth battle 73-70, while the girls couldn’t overcome a lop-sided first half, losing 80-57.

Quantavius Leslie and D.J. Rutledge didn’t start due to injuries, but they still managed to lead the team in scoring despite seeing limited action.

Rutledge notched 23, while Leslie scored 17 points.

Dominique Smedley also netted nine points.

It was the third loss in a row for the Cavaliers (10-5 overall), dropping them to 5-4 in Region 5-AA play and third in region play.

The Lady Cavs fell behind early and couldn’t catch back up, but they still played hard according to coach Michael Fannin.

“The second half the girls came out and played with such great intensity like they wanted to make a huge turnaround which they did,” Fannin said. “We didn’t give up.”

Alexis Rutledge led the Lady Cavs with 19 points.

Both Callaway squads host Heard County on Thursday.

LAFAYETTE CHRISTIAN: The Lafayette Christian School Cougars fell to Praise Academy 60-38 Tuesday night.

Jeff Hutcheson continued his hot play of late with 22 points, while Ja­rred Pike added 10 points.

Head coach Rene Gomez said his team, which has just one win and is still looking for its first GISA Region 4-A victory, is still “trying to find some consistent play.”

Hutcheson has provided a spark of late, averaging around 20 points the past few games.

Against Praise Academy, Hutcheson made 9 of his 12 attempts from the field.

Lafayette Christian hosts Dawson Street Christian on Thursday.

A junior varsity girls’ game will tip off at 4 p.m., with the varsity boys’ game to follow.

DAWSON STREET: Behind Patrick Merriwether’s explosive night, the Dawson Street Christian School Wildcats blew visiting Oak Mountain away in the second half on the way to a 96-78 victory Tuesday night.

Merriwether scored an eye-popping 27 points in the third quarter alone, and he finished with 42 points to help the Wildcats improve to 13-1 and remain one game behind Covenant Christian for first place in GISA Region 4-A.

The game was tied 39-39 at the half, and the Wildcats outscored the Warriors 39-17 in the third period to blow things open.

Merriwether, Dawson Street head coach Albert Jackson said, “hit everything he threw up. He didn’t miss.”

Jackson said the goal coming out of the locker room was to “speed things up,” and the Wildcats did that.

“We just wore them down,” Jackson said.

Merriwether, a sharp-shooting guard, has been hot of late “averaging about 40 points” during the past three games according to Jackson.

Against Oak Mountain, Merriwether’s teammates were looking for him just about every trip down the floor in the third quarter.

“He was just letting it go,” Jackson said.

While Merriwether provided the outside punch, Huron Bright provided the inside force, scoring 29 points and pulling down 18 rebounds.

Donta Lindsey added 12 points, and Cordero Cameron scored six points and had 10 rebounds.