The hole was too deep for the North Callaway boys on Saturday.
The Thunderbirds lost 59-43 to Centralia in the Class 3 District 7 championship game at South Callaway in Mokane after trailing …
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The hole was too deep for the North Callaway boys on Saturday.
The Thunderbirds lost 59-43 to Centralia in the Class 3 District 7 championship game at South Callaway in Mokane after trailing 28-11 at halftime. They managed to cut the margin down to 16 points multiple times in the second half but failed to win their first district title game appearance since their championship in 2023.
Head coach Matt Miller said the first quarter and a half was “a defensive slugfest” where neither team gained the advantage. Centralia (18-11) found a way to score first until it was “too big of a hill to overcome in the second half” for North Callaway (18-11) against a good defense.
“We had a few live-ball turnovers, and they got some offensive putbacks,” Miller said. “That’s really how they scored in the first half, and we just couldn’t get anything down. We got some good looks that we normally make but just couldn’t score.”
Centralia had a balanced scoring day with five players finishing with at least seven points, including Anthony Ford’s floor-high 15 points. Jake Blevins led North Callaway with 13 points.
Dalton Brewer and Austin Brown were the next highest scorers with eight and seven points, respectively, but all of those happened in the second half. Miller said they continued to fight and did knock down shots, but it was too late.
“That’s what we told them at halftime,” Miller said. “Just keep shooting the shots that we’re supposed to shoot and make. In the first half, we weren’t making them. That’s basketball sometimes.”
Miller said any third meeting between teams in any sport tends to be low-scoring because of how well the teams know each other. North Callaway were well aware of what Ford could do and is the “top of the scouting report” because of how productive he ends up being regardless. However, Miller said another Panthers shined at a crucial time.
“Their best player tonight was the Ross kid,” Miller said. “He was the best player on the floor tonight as he was the difference-maker. He guarded our best playmaker and did a good job on him. Offensively, he did some good things.”
North Callaway finished with a better record than its district championship team a few years ago and had its best winning percentage since the 20-7 team in 2019. The Thunderbirds also were in the running for an Eastern Missouri Conference title in the last game of the regular season but lost that game to champion Bowling Green. Miller said there is plenty for the boys to be proud of this season.
“We competed for a district championship, and we competed for a conference championship,” Miller said. “That doesn’t happen every year. It’s really raw right now losing this game. Take a step back and reflect, we had a good and successful season. We’re really proud of our four seniors and the effort they put into our program for four years.”
