The first half in Centralia’s game on Thursday was slow.

Sure, the Panthers were playing in the 9 p.m. consolation semifinals game of the Centralia tournament against Macon, but they weren’t satisfied with the pace and turned a 17-12 halftime lead into a 54-32 victory. Centralia (3-3) will have a rematch with North Callaway (4-1) at 5 p.m. Saturday for fifth place.

Head coach Brandon Crites said the Panthers “always want to push the pace” and were able to do that plenty in the second half. Centralia outscored its Clarence Cannon Conference foe 20-7 in the third quarter to take control of the game.

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“The defense caused some turnovers, and we were able to get out and run and score in transition,” Crites said. “It helps when shots start to fall. Everybody gets in a little bit better rhythm.”

Crites said Cal Romine was someone in rhythm as Romine finished with nine points and two 3-pointers. Luke Waltemate and Clayton Moore each hit a 3-pointer in the fourth quarter off the bench. 

Hunter Hull finished with 10 points to lead a balanced scoring night for Centralia, which also included Anthony Young with eight points and three steals, Oliver Bohlmeyer with eight points and Anthony Ford with seven points. Hull provided and usually provides Centralia with some quickness in transition.

“We just like speeding up the game,” Hull said. “That’s what we’re going to be good at. We just got to get more practice in.”

Hull said a quicker style is what he’s been playing since middle school. He also said he’s been able to dunk since eighth grade as he displayed with one slam to cap a fastbreak on Thursday. 

With six games played, Hull said Centralia needs more time together on the court to become better at various things. He was encouraged to see the game “clicked” for them against Macon (1-4).

“Each game, we get better and better,” Hull said. “Offensive movement, at the start of the season, we weren’t really moving and passing the ball well. We were hogging the ball, but as we have moved through the season, we have passed it more and got better opportunities to score more.”

Centralia allowed only two points in the first quarter and the most points it allowed in a quarter was 13 points in the fourth quarter. Ryder Lewis led the floor with 14 points and three 3-pointers, but he scored all of those points for Macon in the second half. 

Crites said his players can execute various defenses. He said certain kids are better at certain things so he liked how one group of Panthers rebounded well while another group pressured Macon into mistakes.

“There is still a lot of learning and understanding still to go because we’re so early in the season like just the understanding of when to go and when not to go defensively in the full court press,” Crites said. “The physical attributes in the two groups are split about perfectly for the different types of defenses they were playing.”

Centralia will have another chance at North Callaway after opening the season with a 66-62 loss on the road. The Panthers have a deep roster to do a variety of things but so does North Callaway.

“They shot the ball really well last time,” Crites said. “We’re going to try to make some adjustments that will hopefully make some of those shots more contested. Sometimes, shooters make shots, but we’re going to our best to make their shots a little bit more difficult this time around.”