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By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily News

COLUMBUS – The Callaway Cavaliers don’t know who they’ll be playing next week, but they know where the game will be.

With Thursday’s 52-42 win over Temple in the semifinals of the Region 5-AA tournament, Callaway assured itself of a home game in the state tournament.

Callaway will play home-standing Spencer for the region championship on Saturday, with tip-off set for 7:30 p.m.

In Thursday’s win, Callaway got it done with a suffocating defense, with Temple finishing well below its season average in points.

According to Callaway assistant coach Ken Mapp, the Cavaliers took seven chargers, which brought a smile to the face of head coach Terry Hayes.

“That’s effort, and desire when you’re taking charges,” Hayes said.

Duke Simpson, one of the team’s seniors, said “coach Hayes, he wanted us to close it up when they drive, and contest shots. He said to limit it to one shot, and we tried our best to do that.”

While it wasn’t one of the Cavaliers’ better offensive games of the season, they did enough thanks to the stingy defense.

Demetrius Coleman led Callaway with 13 points, and Javontay Boddie and Duke Simpson had 10 points apiece.

Jacob Freeman added seven points, and he did some nice work inside, pulling down critical rebounds while helping out on defense.

The Cavaliers trailed 10-7 after the first quarter, and they picked up the pace offensively in the second quarter to take a 24-19 lead at the half.

Temple came out hot in the third quarter, hitting three 3-pointers to grab a 28-26 lead.

The Cavaliers responded with an 8-2 run to reclaim the lead, and they were ahead 38-34 heading to the final quarter.

A Jamario Glenn jumper early in the fourth quarter gave the Cavaliers a 40-34 lead, and they were ahead by at least five points the rest of the way.

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