The situation against Hallsville didn’t improve this time for the North Callaway boys.

In the Thunderbirds’ second game against Hallsville this season, they lost 68-43 in a road game Tuesday, allowing eight Indians to score and 10 to come down with at least one rebound — three with at least five boards.

Isiah Craighead surpassed his scoring from the first 67-49 loss to the Indians (7-1) this season with a game-high 21 points along with five rebounds and two steals. Matthew Weber followed with 10 points and five rebounds, and Sam Pezold had eight points.

Head coach Matt Miller said after North Callaway’s first loss to Hallsville that Kolton Garner broke loose too many times, resulting in his 21 points and 14 rebounds that day. This time, the Indians had so much more than Garner, despite him finishing with 17 points, nine rebounds and four steals on Tuesday. Cameron Cox followed with 15 points and three steals, Isaac Stinson had 10 points and five rebounds, and Jackson Smith and Zach Jouret combined for five 3-pointers off the bench.

“At any time on the floor, they’ve got five guys that can pass, dribble and shoot,” Miller said. “They put a lot of pressure on you. They’re a good team.”

Miller said it was more difficult to compete on the glass this time without post players Trenton Jones and Brendan Reinhard, but he also said that isn’t an excuse. The Thunderbirds (4-5) were able to practice with Tuesday’s situation in mind but were beaten by the Indians’ depth.

It didn’t even take two minutes for Hallsville to bring some energy out of its crowd as the Indians shot ahead 7-0 after a Cox 3-pointer, forcing a North Callaway timeout. The quarter ended on a 9-3 Hallsville run that was highlighted by a Smith 3-pointer and Garner steal and score.

Craighead made the deficit after the first quarter 21-12 thanks to a 3-point play. Throughout the night, the Indians struggled to corral the elusive Craighead in transition and at the rim, with the Thunderbirds lobbing passes in stride over the Hallsville defense.

“We knew to take care of the basketball against their press, and the best way to do that is get the ball in the middle,” Miller said. “Put him in the middle, and he made plays from there. Guys did a good job finding him. We’ve got a lot of guards that are good scorers, but sometimes, we forget Isiah is out there and he’s a good player himself.”

Smith was up to three 3-pointers after a possession he grabbed an offensive rebound to begin the second quarter with an 8-0 run for Hallsville. North Callaway trailed 35-22 at halftime, with Craighead accounting for more than half of its points.

Weber scored eight of his points in the second half, and he and Craighead helped whittle North Callaway’s deficit to as low as 12 points in the second half after falling behind by 19 points. However, the Thunderbirds weren’t able to mount the offense that had them within five points during the second half in the first meeting.

Cox had another 3-pointer go down to help end the third quarter with a 50-37 Hallsville lead and this one rattled around the rim for a couple seconds before falling through. The Thunderbirds couldn’t match the Indians from the perimeter as North Callaway finished 1-for-19 on 3-pointers while Hallsville finished with seven makes from deep.

Miller said North Callaway did a nice job of limiting Hallsville’s scoring in the first quarter by neutralizing the Indians in the half court. That didn’t stick as Hallsville's shooters kept knocking down shots to further push the Thunderbirds away.

“We threw a little bit different look defensively at them,” Miller said. “It slowed them down early on as they didn’t really score in the half court in the first quarter, honestly. Their stuff was in transition or offensive rebounds. I think that strategy worked out early on, but they’re a good team with good shooters and good players.”