The Thunderbird boys rode the coattails of their productive night of shooting Tuesday and North Callaway made its way to the semifinal game of the South Callaway Tournament defeating Calvary Lutheran 66-62 in the first round.

North Callaway is to meet Herman in Thursday's semifinal, with the winner advancing to Saturday's championship game at 5:30 p.m. while the loser competes in the 2:30 p.m. third place game that day.

Thanks in part to them knocking down 51 percent of its field goal attempts, the Thunderbirds acquired a 40-27 halftime lead Wednesday and hung on in the second half to withstand Calvary Lutheran's surge to the finish.

Junior Cody Cash led the way in scoring with 23 points and his older brother Gabe made 7 of 13 free throws to score 22 for North Callaway (4-6). Trenton Jones scored eight points, Tanner Taylor had six, Cody Lee put in five and Webb Langworth chipped in two for the cause.

In girls action at the tournament, North Callaway sustained a 54-49 consolation round loss Wednesday to Russellville.

The Lady Thunderbirds narrowed its 24-14 halftime deficit to 34-31 by the end of the third quarter but could not make enough defensive stops in the fourth segment to complete their task.

Sophomore Ryelle Schmauch made three of her five 3-point attempts to score 20 points and Daelyn Schmauch had 12. Six other players for North Callaway also scored.

The Lady Thunderbirds are scheduled to play for seventh place at 6 p.m. Friday.

Following tournament play, the North Callaway boys and girls teams are scheduled to compete next Tuesday at Fayette.