On the offensive end, the North Callaway boys had plenty coming from two players.

Gary Filbert Classic Photo Gallery

Seniors Isiah Craighead and Sam Pezold are returning all-conference players and dropped a combined 60 points on Paris in a 82-57 victory in the 13th annual Gary Filbert Classic in Mexico. Craighead led the way with a massive double-double of a career-high 33 points and 16 rebounds to go with four 3-pointers, which earned him the game’s MVP award, and Pezold finished with 27 points, five steals and three 3-pointers.

North Callaway head coach Matt Miller said great ball movement and shooting is required to set a new season-high, which the Thunderbirds did with their 10 3-pointers. At the forefront was the 6-foot-2 Craighead as he went up against 6-foot-4 Evin Reichmann and 6-foot-1 Brady Shivers of Paris.

“He’s got a high motor,” Miller said. “He never stops moving. He’s really expanded his offensive game where he is stepping out and hit several 3s today for us. Last year, he was more mid-range and at the rim, and this year, he can score at all three levels. He’s a nightmare matchup for other teams, and I’m glad he’s on our team.”

Craighead started knocking down 3-pointers at the end of the second quarter and then added three in the second half as Paris (2-6) tried to fight from down 46-21 at halftime. Regardless, he was often seen above the competition while grabbing a rebound and North Callaway (3-4) outrebounded the Coyotes 44-20 largely because of that.

Paris head coach Jeremy Skinner said the Coyotes are becoming accustomed still to their 1-2-2  defense and that hurts in other areas other than preventing the ball from going through the net.

“We haven’t been running our 1-2-2 long enough where we’re good at boxing out at it,” Skinner said. “We’ve got no excuses against a man. We just didn’t box out. There were multiple times where we played great defensive possessions — made them work for 30 seconds, took a contested shot and we didn’t finish it out with a box out. They’d shoot a layup after we did all that hard work.”

North Callaway outscored Paris 26-9 in the second quarter and kept pushing the biggest leads to new heights and wanted to maintain dominance inside in the second half. The Coyotes reached the free-throw line 10 times in the second quarter and hit half of them and then went 6-for-10 from the line in the third quarter.

“That was a point of emphasis at halftime,” Miller said. “We were giving up too many free throws, offensive rebounds and things like that. We were just being more fundamentally sound on defensive blockouts and then knowing when we shoot the ball, there are offensive rebounds to be had and we just got to go get them.”

Pezold collected his fair share of loose balls on the glass and via steals to strengthen the defense. Offensively, North Callaway’s leading scorer didn’t awaken until 13 points in the second quarter, but Miller said Pezold still didn’t erupt as much as he’s done in the past, despite the end result being 27 points.

“That’s a quiet 27,” Miller said. “That’s the type of player he is where he’s been doing for a long time. He can go out there and have a quiet night and still have 20-plus. He just has a knack for putting the ball in the hole.”

Colton Kendrick erupted a bit for Paris in the second half since he scored nine of his 12 points in the third quarter to go with seven rebounds. Another Paris guard, Andre Miller, led the Coyotes with 18 points and four 3-pointers. 

“Andre had a rough game (the night before in a 58-40 home loss to Schuyler County) because he got sped up and today wasn’t feeling quite as good,” Skinner said. “He was a little sick and slowed him down so he settled into his shots and it actually helped him out a little bit. 

“Colton’s been playing really well for us the past three games as he’s been attacking where he needs to. We talked about him getting the ball in that 15-foot area and attacking them there instead of hanging out at the 3-point line. That’s where he’s really dangerous.”

Skinner was proud the Coyotes kept fighting so they didn’t fall behind North Callaway anymore. Miller said the Thunderbirds’ defense can be improved but can’t complain about scoring 80 points.

“Offensively, you put 80 on somebody, you feel good about that,” Miller said. “It gets tougher from here, but we’re excited about it moving forward.”

Look for the story in the Saturday, Dec. 23, 2023, edition of the Mexico Ledger.