Boys basketball

Centralia boys physical play inside beats North Callaway 65-42

Thunderbirds try to adjust without Weber

Everything went according to plan for the Centralia boys on Tuesday.

The Panthers bounced back from a season-opening loss to defeat North Callaway 65-42 at home, boasting a balanced scoring attack that saw nine of their players score. The Thunderbirds (0-1) were outscored 17-8 in the third quarter and 31-19 in the second half.

For Centralia, Cullen Bennett led with 14 points, seven rebounds and two steals, Logan Rosenfelder followed with 10 points and two 3-pointers, Boen Zimmerman had nine points, 10 rebounds and two blocks, Jack Romine finished with eight points, four rebounds and two steals, and the Panthers had six 3-pointers spread between four players.

For North Callaway, Isiah Craighead stepped up with 14 points and 10 rebounds, and Sam Pezold followed with 10 points and three steals. No other Thunderbird had more than four points as the team was playing without senior Matthew Weber — a 20-point scorer and all-conference and all-district player a season ago — who was in a walking boot with an ankle sprain.

Centralia head coach Scott Humphrey was well aware of Weber being out but was also aware that the Thunderbirds had another all-conference and all-district player in Sam Pezold. He said the Panthers executed their game plan well to gradually gain distance in the game.

“The biggest thing was we didn’t want Pezold to get open shots,” Humphrey said. “We wanted to control the rebounds, and we did that. I think we moved without the ball well, I thought our depth wore on, and we got good bench play. I was really proud of my kids.”

Centralia outrebounded North Callaway 34-32 but was more active on the glass, especially on offense, which resulted in the Thunderbirds reaching the penalty in the final minute of the third quarter and contributed to the Panthers making four and-one layups in the second half.

North Callaway head coach Matt Miller said “the little things compounded into big things” and his team was “outphysicaled around the rim on both sides.”

“The first game of the year, we were a little timid and made some first-game-of-the-year mistakes,” Miller said. “I got to do a better job of drawing stuff up, getting guys open, and doing a better job of emphasizing getting the ball inside. We didn’t shoot the 3-ball very well, so when that happens, we got to do a better job of being physical and getting the ball inside. We were just kind of outphysicaled and outtoughnessed on both ends of the floor and in the paint.”

Pezold made three shots from the field but was limited to one field goal in the second half. Miller said Weber rolled his ankle a week prior to sustain a severe ankle sprain, which will keep him out at least a week or two, and Centralia was understandably focused on Pezold.

“He’s such a dynamic offensive player and does a whole lot for us,” Miller said. “He provides clean looks for a lot of other players when he’s on the floor. Some guys that may have been wide open when he’s on the floor, that’s now a contested jumpshot.”

Centralia’s 7-0 run in the first quarter was broken up by a Craighead offensive putback but still carried a 15-9 lead after one quarter. Craighead interrupted Centralia’s 10-0 run in the second quarter after hitting a mid-range jumper from the elbow, an area he was effective from all night.

Three 3-pointers helped Centralia take a 34-23 lead at halftime as Rosenfelder, Travis Brooks and Benji Chick struck from deep. Eight Panthers had already scored at that point, making Humphrey a happy coach despite being without all-conference player and double-double machine Grant Erisman this season following his graduation.

“That was one thing I thought coming into this year — I thought we were going to have more options to score,” Humphrey said. “I don’t know if we’ll ever get to where we can replace (Grant) Erisman with one kid, but I thought we did a good job of doing what we’re supposed to do and spread the ball around.”

The second quarter was where Craighead scored 10 of his points as Miller said he told the junior to be more aggressive based on how Centralia was guarding Pezold. Craighead had one field goal in the second half but still was active on the glass.

“They were hurting us from the elbow, but we gave them that,” Humphrey said. “We wanted to make sure somebody beat us besides their main guys.”

Centralia was frenetic on the glass in the second half. Zimmerman, who had two blocks in the first half, picked up a majority of his rebounds in the latter 16 minutes and also capped an 11-2 run with a midrange jumper that gave Centralia a 45-27 lead with 4:46 left in the third quarter.

The Panther starters were subbed out with three minutes left in the fourth quarter as Centralia owned a 20-point lead. Centralia had 16 points coming from their bench to complement a strong night from the starting five.

“We kept them off the glass,” Humphrey said. “I thought Jack Romine came out and played really good tonight. Benji Chick and Boen Zimmerman each did a good job. Cullen’s Bennett’s got a lot on his shoulders. He plays almost every second, does everything for us and he played really well.”

Miller said he likes what North Callaway had from Craighead but would like to see more of that while the Thunderbirds are without Weber and from then onward.

“He did a really good job today. He’s been having a good last couple weeks of practice,” Miller said. “He was high energy all night and played really well. We just need five guys on the floor playing with that high energy all the time.”
Humphrey said Centralia did a nice job of following the plan Tuesday and will need to continue that all season.

“We’re going to be a work in progress,” Humphrey said. “Our goal is going to be as good as we can be by the end of the season. It’s about the process. We got better in practice last night (Monday) so that’s why we had the result we had.”

Centralia (2-1) hosted Marshall on Thursday night, winning 74-53, before beginning its home tournament — the Centralia Invitational — with Macon (3-0) at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday while North Callaway started its Eastern Missouri Conference schedule on Friday at Silex before playing Harrisburg (1-1) at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the Centralia Invitational.

Mexico boys play lockdown defense in 66-29 win vs Wellsville

The Mexico boys defense was ready from the beginning of the Montgomery County Basketball Tournament.

The top-seeded Bulldogs began their tournament title defense with a 66-29 victory against No. 8 Wellsville-Middletown to allow their lowest point total since Feb. 5’s 55-28 win last year against Pattonville. Mexico came away with 19 steals and forced 25 turnovers.

Jordan Shelton led with 20 points on 10-for-13 shooting and four steals, DJ Long followed with a stuffed stat sheet of 16 points, seven rebounds, five assists and five steals, Aidan Knipfel had eight points, Donye Nunnelly finished with seven points and three offensive rebounds, Markus Perkins had three steals, and Dante Kelley picked up a couple steals.

For Wellsville, the Tigers were held to single-digit points in three quarters, trailing 41-10 at halftime. Dylan Alsop led with eight points and was 6-for-6 at the free throw line, and Carson Huff followed with six points and was 2-for-4 at the free throw line.

The Bulldogs led 16-5 after one quarter and eventually had a 57-22 lead at the end of the third quarter. They finished with 30 rebounds and 48 points in the paint.

Community R-6 blown away by Marion County shooters in 63-42 loss

The Community R-6 boys were hurt repeatedly by the 3-pointer on Tuesday night.

The Trojans lost 63-42 at Marion County in Philadelphia after allowing 10 3-pointers to the Mustangs.

“It was a tough game for us, but hopefully, we take something away from this defeat early in the season,” head coach Tad Shotten said. “We fell back into some old habits that really hurt us. We have to address this if we want to compete.”

Gavin Allen led Community (1-1) with 15 points, Mason Carroll followed with 11 points and Brant Cope added eight points. 

For Marion County (1-2), Jackson Stewart led with 22 points, Wyatt Goldinger followed with 16 points and Joey Lagemann had 14 points.

Community R-6 plays at Mark Twain (1-1) in Center at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

Van-Far boys not mentally ready in 69-53 loss at South Callaway

It was an uphill battle from the start Tuesday for the Van-Far boys.

The Indians fell behind 19-13 after one quarter before eventually losing 69-53 at South Callaway (2-0). 

Nikos Connaway led the way with a double-double at 25 points and 10 rebounds along with four assists and four steals. Gage Gibson followed with nine points and four rebounds, and Carter Jennings had eight points and six rebounds.

We weren’t mentally ready to play,” head coach Pat Connaway said. “South Callaway was honestly just better than us in almost every facet of the game. We dug an early hole and then closed the gap to 5 at half, but we came out of the locker room flat.”

Connaway said Van-Far was able to fight within five points at halftime at a 35-30 score but kept missing good looks like transition and point-blank shot opportunities.

“South Callaway did a good job of dictating tempo and playing the game at their pace,” Connaway said. “We need to learn and grow from this and try to get better.”

Van-Far (2-1) opened its Eastern Missouri Conference schedule Thursday night with a 45-44 win at home against Louisiana (2-1) before starting the Centralia Invitational on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. against Class 2 No. 2 Salisbury (0-2) — overtime losses to undefeated New Franklin and Macon.

Paris boys offense struggles in 58-19 loss to South Shelby

The Paris boys haven’t struggled to score this season as much as they did Tuesday night at home.

The Coyotes lost 58-19 to South Shelby, posting single digits in each quarter and shooting 16 percent from the field. Paris committed 22 turnovers on the night as well and were outrebounded 34-23.

Walter Rucker led Paris (1-2) with eight points, five rebounds and two steals, Mason Edwards followed with four points and five rebounds, and Alex Williams had three points and four rebounds.

For South Shelby (1-1), Eli Carter led with 12 points and five rebounds, Trey Countryman followed with nine points, four rebounds and three steals, Zaiden Wood had eight points and four rebounds, and three other Cardinals each had seven points.

Paris begins play in the Monroe City Basketball Tournament as the No. 7 seed with its 6 p.m. Monday game against No. 2 Palmyra (2-0) in Monroe City’s middle school gym.

Missouri Military 66 Sunnydale Adventist Academy 65 (OT) in Centralia

Girls basketball

Centralia girls strong shooting nets 47-31 win vs North Callaway

Ladybirds struggle scoring in post

The Centralia girls had a good shot at scoring much of Tuesday night.

The Lady Panthers finished 54 percent from the field in a 47-31 win, building a double-digit lead early and carrying the rest of the way in a game they had 14 steals and four finish with at least eight points. North Callaway had two quarters with single-digit points and went 10-for-18 from the free throw line, with 16 of those attempts happening in the second half.

For Centralia, Jozelynn Bostick led with 10 points and three steals, Annie Robinson followed with nine points and five rebounds, Morgan Ross had nine points and Shelby Lewis finished with eight points and six rebounds.

For North Callaway, Natalie Shryock led with 15 points, five rebounds, three 3-pointers and two steals, Lakyn Hartley followed with six points and Lauren Riecke had four points and four rebounds. Shryock, Hartley and Riecke combined for 12 free-throw attempts in the second half.

Centralia head coach Megan Brinkmann said Centralia was able to be so successful from the floor because it was able to find shots consistently at the rim, whether that was a result of transitioning off a turnover, the aggressiveness inside from cross country runners Robinson and Lewis or a combination of both.

“Our transition was really good,” Brinkmann said. “We had easy buckets, and that’s exactly how to do it. We had Shelby and Annie running the floor. You can’t catch them, get it up the floor and score to get us some points. That broke the lead open.”

Brinkmann even said the Lady Panthers were a little fatigued near the end of the first half. North Callaway took advantage as Shryock hit two of her 3-pointers in quick succession. Morgan Ross ended the first half, however, with an exclamation point for Centralia as she banked in a half-court shot at the buzzer, making it 30-17 at halftime.

Prior to that, the Ladybirds repeatedly passed the ball in transition only to stall at that point. North Callaway head coach Tim Turlington said the Ladybirds were aware how the Lady Panthers like to “get into” opponents, but it’s clear the post is an area they need to work on.

“They’re going to push you out and try to start your offensive higher and wider than you want to, and that’s what they did,” Turlington said. “Initially, we didn’t respond very well to it. We were able to get down into the paint, but the first four minutes were rough on us. Passing out of the post, we can get the ball down there, but we got to do something with it once we get down there.”

Turlington said, even though Shryock didn’t have a field goal in the second half, she did a good job of going to the line along with several other Ladybirds like Riley Blevins, who went 2-for-5 from the free throw line and also had three steals. This is a good sign for North Callaway this season based on how last season went.

“That’s big for us,” Turlington said. “Last year, in our first two or three games, we didn’t shoot a free throw. I didn’t really even know that was a possibility. That’s become a point of emphasis for us is to get to the line — for a lot of reasons. We got to the line a lot tonight.

North Callaway had to find its points at the line — especially in the second half when North Callaway had three field goals — after the way Centralia guarded the Ladybirds. Brinkmann said the Lady Panthers had a plan to disrupt their offense and had solid defense from players such as Kaelyn Walters.

“They run a lot of ball screen stuff so we talked about really good half-court defense and how to guard that ball screen and take them out of that ball screen,” Brinkmann said. “I thought we executed it pretty well. We’re getting better on the defensive end. Tonight, I challenged them so I thought they stepped up.”

Centralia led 40-21 after three quarters as the duo of Robinson and Lewis combined for eight points and had 17 points and 11 rebounds after the third quarter.

The Lady Panthers transition game led the team early in the first quarter, as they took a 7-2 lead in about halfway through the initial eight minutes after Braylin Brunkhorst scored off Centralia’s third steal at that point, but having Robinson and Lewis control the glass in the second half made a big difference, Brinkmann said.

“They’re two great post players,” Brinkmann said. “They got their points easy just by running the floor. Annie was super aggressive and attacked the rim. That’s what she does well. Defensively, they did really well too, so it was really good to see.”

Brinkmann said Centralia resembled somewhat what she wants the team to be by the end of the season.

“I had six players score tonight — 10, 9, 9, 8, 6, 5,” Brinkmann said. “That’s hard to guard. Pick somebody to guard.”

Turlington said incorporating the free throws more into North Callaway’s offense will be important and the Ladybirds should improve over time.

“We’re still young,” Turlington said. “There’s going to be a learning curve when we play teams that guard us hard. How are we going to respond? What are we going to do? What do we need to look for? How do we need to do things? At times, we look good and get things done on both ends of the floor. We just need to do it on a more consistent basis.”

Centralia (2-1) hosted Marshall on Thursday night, winning 63-23, before beginning its host tournament — the Centralia Invitational — against Van-Far (1-1) at 4:30 p.m. Monday while North Callaway (1-2) lost its Eastern Missouri Conference opener 46-32 at Silex on Thursday night before facing Harrisburg (3-0), who received votes in the first state Class 2 poll, at 6 p.m. Monday in the Centralia Invitational.

Community R-6 girls strong defensive start leads to 56-12 win at Marion County

The heat was on Marion County in the Community R-6 girls’ win Tuesday night.

This was by design as Community won 56-12, taking a 28-1 lead at halftime against the Lady Mustangs (0-3), who received votes in the first Class 1 state poll of the season. The Lady Trojans had eight different players score and only committed five fouls in the first half.

Sarah Angel led with 19 points and five steals, Kylie Brooks filled the stat sheet with nine points, six rebounds and four steals, Brooklyn Glasgow followed with eight points, Kayla Jett had seven points, and Olivia Kuda had six points.

Head coach Bob Curtis said Community worked on a strategy in practice that was key in Tuesday’s victory. He said the Lady Trojans’ pressure led to some easy buckets in transition.

“In practice, we have spent a lot of time on speeding the ball up without fouling and giving teams a breather by fouling,” Curtis said. “I thought that was one of the keys Tuesday night. We kept the heat on with no stops in play.”

Community (2-0) traveled to Center for a 6 p.m. Friday with Mark Twain before hosting Silex (1-1) at 7 p.m. Monday.

Jensen double-double leads Van-Far girls to 39-21 win at South Callaway

Mara Jensen was the go-to girl on Tuesday night.

The Van-Far senior led the Lady Indians to a 39-21 victory at South Callaway (0-1) by finishing with a double-double of 22 points and 17 rebounds along with six steals. It is the Lady Indians’ first win against the Lady Bulldogs since 2010.

Carmen Wilburn had 10 points and seven assists, and McKenna Engh-Hoffman followed with seven points and 10 rebounds.

“It was not a bad night for the Lady Indians,” head coach Heather Minter said. We did some good things right but was able to watch film and see what we need to make improvements on. We did some really good things on the defensive end and on the offensive end but still missed a lot of easy buckets.”

Van-Far (1-2) opened its Eastern Missouri Conference schedule Thursday night at home with a 54-33 loss against Louisiana (1-1) before beginning its stay at the Centralia Invitational at 4:30 p.m. Monday against Centralia (2-1).

Paris girls overwhelmed by state-ranked South Shelby 56-8

Points were hard to come by Tuesday for the Paris girls. 

The Lady Coyotes hosted reigning Class 3 runner-up and current Class 3 No. 3 South Shelby and were shut out in the first quarter before eventually losing 56-8 for their first loss of the season. It was a near repeat of the 54-8 result from a Jan. 3 game last season. 

Paris (2-1) shot 15 percent from the field and committed 36 turnovers that were turned into 39 South Shelby points, including 23 points in transition. Kameron Arnett made a 3-pointer to lead the Lady Coyotes in scoring and pulled down four rebounds, Reese Sutton led Paris with five rebounds and scored two points, and Sophia Crusha added two points and a steal. 

For South Shelby (2-0), Belle Roush led with 12 points, Kamryn Mitchell had 10 points and five rebounds, reigning all-state player Miranda Patterson finished with nine points and four steals, and Callie McWilliams had six points and five steals. 

Paris was outscored 25-0 in the first quarter before trailing 29-2 at halftime and 55-5 after three quarters.

Paris will have to face South Shelby again in a No. 8-No. 1 seed matchup at 7:30 p.m. Monday in the Monroe City Basketball Tournament. The teams will play in the Monroe City middle school gym.

Mexico JV 31 Bowling Green JV 25 in Mexico

Look for the full stories in the Saturday Dec. 3, 2022, edition of The Mexico Ledger.