By MIKE KILROY

Eagle Staff Writer

It could have been a disaster for Tyler Callihan and the Karns City High School boys basketball team.

In early May, Callihan slid into second base as a member of the Gremlins’ baseball team. When he stood up, he could not bend his left knee or put any weight on his injured leg.

“I couldn’t straighten it at all,” Callihan said. “All I thought was, ‘What in the world happened?’”

Callihan had to wait for the results from a MRI. He tried not to think the worst, which would have been a torn anterior cruciate or medial collateral ligament — or both.

Instead, Callihan got off relatively easy. The injury was to his medial meniscus ligament and he underwent successful surgery.

What could have been an injury that would have wiped out his senior season on the basketball court ended up oddly helping Callihan excel as a scorer, rebounder and passer for the Gremlins this season.

And it may have laid the groundwork for his second consecutive Butler County Boys Player of the Year honor.

The injury sent him into rehab and re-focused the 6-foot-3 star.

“I shot free throws standing still (during the summer),” Callihan said. “I wasn’t allowed to jump, so that’s all I could do.”

When he was finally cleared to do all the basketball things he did before the injury, he discovered his upper body was stronger and his range from the outside improved.

It made him an even more dangerous weapon.

Callihan averaged 26.1 points and 10.4 rebounds per game this season. He also hit 54 3-pointers, some from a range even Fred Hoiberg would have trouble hitting from.

“I lifted a lot more because of the rehab,” Callihan said. “I felt stronger in my upper body. When I went into the gym, I noticed I really did have better range. I was bringing the ball down the court and pulling up a lot further away from the basket and making them.”

Callihan also averaged close to four assists per game this season. He routinely recorded double-doubles and threw in some triple-doubles for good measure.

On his way to setting the school’s all-time scoring mark — he finished his career with 1,546 points — he set a career high in points scored in a game with 41 against Ford City in the season opener. He scored 20 or more points in 17 of Karns City’s 27 games and more than 30 points eight times.

Many games it was as if Callihan couldn’t miss — and he felt it.“I’ve never had a feeling quite like that,” Callihan said. “You just know when you get an open look, you’re going to make it.”He did all of this under constant scrutiny from opponents, who designed defenses to stop him.But Callihan didn’t fret. He was pleased to discover he had quite a formidable supporting cast.“It let me know when I drive and dish, they can finish,” Callihan said.Yet despite averaging 25 points per game in the last two years and wracking up impressive rebounding and assist numbers to boot, colleges were cool on Callihan.They still are.Callihan doesn’t understand it, but like he did with his knee injury, he turned it into a positive.“At the beginning of the year, it kind of bothered me,” Callihan said. “Once I started thinking about it, I realized it was one less thing I had to worry about. I didn’t have to worry about impressing colleges. It was much less pressure.”Callihan, though, is still a bit irked about it and hopes wherever he winds up, he will make some colleges who passed on him wonder why they did.Callihan was going to walk on at Slippery Rock University, but has since reconsidered. He is getting some attention now from Allegheny College, Thiel College, Juniata College and Pitt-Bradford — not exactly the cream of the crop in college basketball in this region.“It’s been all Division IIIs looking at me,” Callihan said. “I don’t know why. I actually think someone who has averaged close to 25 points per game over two years would open some eyes. I guess it didn’t.”He opened a few around Butler County, though.Callihan becomes the first male to earn the player of the year honor twice. He joins Katie Kepple as the only basketball players to repeat as player of the year.“That’s a nice honor,” Callihan said.