Warriors’ trio head AA-A team

Warriors’ trio head AA-A team

By Randall Jett
Register-Herald Sports Writer
A big part of Wyoming East’s Class AA championship team will have the chance to showcase its talent together one last time.

Seniors Justin Caldwell, Nick Rezzonico and Jason Shrewsbury will lead the Class AA-A squad versus the Class AAA all-stars Saturday in the Scott Brown Memorial Classic at the Raleigh County Armory in Beckley.

Jesse Lester will be coaching the trio of East players one final time when they take the court for the scheduled 7:30 p.m. tip-off.

“That’s mainly the reason I’m coaching the game is so I can coach those guys,” Lester said. “I’m sure it will be special for them and for me both.”

Caldwell, a 6-foot, 180-pound two-time all-state guard, was a clutch player all season.

“Coach told me to just have confidence in myself,” he said. “The big thing is, my teammates had confidence in me.”

He stole a win from Logan in the regular season with a steal and easy lay-up and then sent Winfield packing in the state semifinals with a short jumper with four seconds remaining.

“I thought there at the end of the year that his three-point shooting had really improved,” Lester said. “The way he takes the ball to the basket with the way he was shooting the ball at the end of the season, it made him really dangerous.

“I thought his defense got better all year, but Justin is a game-player. He’s the kind of kid that will look forward to playing against these triple-A kids. He doesn’t care to take his talent against anybody. He’ll take that as a challenge.”

Caldwell has been making college visits over spring break.

“I talked to a couple colleges in the conference and a couple of others,” he said. “I’m just visiting right now.”

He ended the season strong, leading Wyoming East to a 26-1 record and Class AA title.

“The last six quarters Caldwell had were great,” Lester said. “He scored 40 (points) in the last six quarters against Winfield and Logan. That’s when we really had to have his offense. If he hadn’t have, we would have gotten beat on Friday night probably. He had a great second half against Winfield and then just a great first quarter against Logan and then a great fourth quarter against Logan.”

Shrewsbury also played solidly down the stretch, providing the Warriors with key points at the state tournament to go with his steady defensive play.

“Jason had a great state tournament, too,” Lester said. “If Jason’s goals were to go and play college ball, I know he has the talent if that was something he wanted to do.”

Rezzonico provided cool composure when the heat was on for East in the championship game against Logan.

“The first quarter, Nick hit two or three big shots from the foul line,” Lester said. “And he made his foul shots this year in critical situations. He made two against Logan at the end of the game and he went 3-for-4 against Westside at the end of a (sectional) tournament game. When it really counted and he had to do it, he made some big foul shots.”

Other AA-A players include Dexter Moore of Bluefield, Shady Spring’s Derek Lewis, Independence’s Bryce Shiflett, Bo Kesler of Midland Trail, Jamel Shelton of Mount Hope, Phillip Misiti of Mountain State Academy and Aaron Williams of Greater Beckley Christian.