Boys basketball

North Callaway boys’ comeback not enough in 61-59 loss at Clopton

At one point Friday night, the North Callaway boys trailed by 17 points in the fourth quarter.

The Thunderbirds statistically appeared to be down and out on the road Eastern Missouri Conference foe Clopton, trailing 58-41 early in the fourth quarter, but outscored the Hawks 18-5 in the fourth quarter only for North Callaway’s last-second shot to almost go in for the 61-59 loss.

North Callaway (10-7) also missed an opportunity to tie Clopton (13-4) in the conference standings as the Thunderbirds moved to 3-2 and Clopton stayed undefeated in conference game. Regardless, head coach Matt Miller said he liked that North Callaway didn’t quit and almost defeated the conference leader on the Hawks’ home court.

“I told our boys to keep playing,” Miller said. “We get down to a couple minutes and let’s hang around and see what happens. They took that to heart.”

Miller said North Callaway had a five-footer that didn’t fall on its second-to-last possession and a desperation 30-foot 3-pointer at the buzzer that also just didn’t go down. Up to that point, the Thunderbirds found a way to counter Clopton’s potent offense.

The Hawks had four double-digit scorers in Cash Eivans and Cain Eivans, each with 17 points, Tyler Kuntz with 11 points, and Chase Hall with 10 points. North Callaway had Matthew Weber score 21 points, Sam Pezold followed with 19 points, six rebounds and four 3-pointers, and Braydn O’Neal finished with 10 points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals.

“We tried to speed them up a little bit,” Miller said. “We were in desperation mode. You get down by that much, you’re trying to trap and trying to get steals. We got up and just ball-pressured them a lot more. Early in the first half, they were executing their half-court offense really well.”

Miller said North Callaway forcing Clopton out of its “methodical” nature helped give opportunities for O’Neal to drive to the rim, Trenton Jones scored from the low post, and Jordan Fishburn knocked down a 3-pointer, which all started from Pezold getting hot from the field.

“Once we saw the ball go in the hole a little bit and cut it to single digits,” Miller said. “You could see the look on their faces like, ‘Man, we might have a chance at this thing.’ The confidence picked up, but it just wasn’t quite enough.”

In the Bowling Green tournament, North Callaway, as the No. 3 seed, faces No. 6 Winfield (4-11) at 6:50 p.m. Tuesday in Bowling Green’s middle school gym.

Mexico 62 Kirksville 57 in Kirksville

Community R-6 49 Paris 35 in Paris

Centralia 68 Marceline 37 in Centralia

Girls basketball

Mexico 35 Kirksville 31 in Kirksville. Claire Hudson 14 points and four 3-pointers , Messiah Simpson eight points and Lexie Willer seven points

Community R-6 48 Paris 25 in Paris

Highland 58 Van-Far 24 in Tony Lenzini consolation final in Palmyra

Look for the stories in the Wednesday, January 25, 2023, edition of the Mexico Ledger.