Tournament Photos

North Callaway encounters déjà vu in 67-49 loss to Hallsville

It was another game, another comeback that fell short for the North Callaway boys this week.

In the fifth-place game of the Centralia Invitational Tournament on Saturday, the Thunderbirds lost 67-49 to Hallsville (4-1) despite cutting the deficit to as low as five points in the second half. North Callaway encountered the same situation Tuesday in its 74-58 first-round loss to Harrisburg, shrinking its deficit to eight points after trailing by double digits only for the margin to increase by the end.

Isiah Craighead led North Callaway (2-3) with 14 points and eight rebounds, Jordan Fishburn followed with 12 points and two 3-pointers off the bench, and Sam Pezold added 11 points — nine in the second half.

Head coach Matt Miller said it did feel like the Harrisburg game all over again in other ways as Hallsville took an early lead, forcing North Callaway to play catchup against a team that is willing to apply pressure on defense.

“It was kind of like the Harrisburg game all over again where they’re going to bring a lot of pressure for about 32 minutes, and they keep coming at you in waves,” Miller said. “We had a hard time keeping up with scoring.”

After trailing 33-24 at halftime, North Callaway consistently trailed by about nine points as Hallsville’s cadre of post players were tough matchups for the Thunderbirds. Kolton Garner stood out as he finished with a game-high double-double of 27 points and 14 rebounds. Isaac Stinson followed with nine points and eight rebounds, and Xavier Stinson scored seven points in the second half.

In the first minute of the fourth quarter, North Callaway cut its deficit down to as low as five points before Garner hit a 3-pointer. The 6-foot-5 Garner leaked out to the perimeter two more times in the fourth quarter for good 3-pointers while also beating out several Thunderbirds for rebounds.

“He’s tough as he can shoot it from outside and can get stuff done inside,” Miller said. “You can’t really bring too much help because they have the Stinson boys inside that can get stuff done and they’ve great shooters on the perimeter.”

Miller said he was pleased with the North Callaway defense for about 24 minutes, but the other eight minutes were too damaging for the Thunderbirds. 

Early in the first quarter, Hallsville took a 10-2 lead and finished the quarter with an 18-11 advantage after Garner stole two inbound passes before easily putting them in. He came away with two more steals to give Hallsville a 23-11 lead early in the second quarter to force a North Callaway timeout.

“You don’t have time to prepare for that,” Miller said. “You can simulate that in practice of what they’re going to present to you. You always want to start fast against a team like that, and we started down.”

North Callaway started chipping away until it trailed by four points in the second quarter thanks to a 3-pointer by Fishburn that was followed by Craighead and Brendan Reinhard crashing the boards, combining for nine rebounds by halftime.

Miller said Fishburn provides North Callaway with a scoring option, which has been needed while leading scorer Matthew Weber recovers from an ankle injury. 

“He’s getting a lot of confidence,” Miller said. “He started the year a little bit slow, but he’s a good scorer for us — good perimeter guy and good shooter. 

“The whole second quarter, we played well for the most part. We took care of the ball as we only had two turnovers in that quarter. We were attacking the rim more aggressively and those things open up your shooters on the perimeter.”

After going into halftime with two points, Pezold heated up in the second half by knocking down a 3-pointer and completing a 3-point play in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, Pezold hit his ninth 3-pointer of the week to ultimately finish with an average of 18 points in three tournament games. 

Before North Callaway (1-0 EMO) hosts Eastern Missouri Conference foe Van-Far (2-3, 1-0 EMO) at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Miller said he thinks the Thunderbirds are “close” as he liked what he saw at times in a field of tough competition. The one victory North Callaway did have was a 45-42 win Thursday against Centralia, sealing the games with free throws and rebounds late.

“We’re close,” Miller said. “We played three tough teams. I was proud of the way we competed every game. It was a good week of basketball. We’re going to look back and say, ‘Hey we were 1-2’ but also look back say, ‘Hey, it was a good week of basketball because we competed for the most part with some pretty good teams.’ We’re a lot closer than the scores might show.”

Thunderbirds battle through sickness to win rematch against Centralia 45-42

The North Callaway boys weren’t feeling the best in terms of health, but the revenge made them feel better.

The Thunderbirds defeated Centralia 45-42 late Thursday night in the consolation semifinals of the Centralia Invitational Tournament in a game that started a half hour later than the 9 p.m. start time. Half of the team was sick to make them either unavailable or play with reduced minutes.

Sam Pezold usually starts, but due to sickness, he came off the bench beginning in the second quarter to lead all scorers with 24 points, including hitting 3-pointers and going 5-for-6 from the free throw line. Isiah Craighead, along with finishing with 16 points and eight rebounds, finished 6-for-6 from the free throw line, including a perfect 4-for-4 from the line in the fourth quarter to seal the game. Braydn O’Neal led the team with six assists.

For Centralia (2-3), Jack Romine led the team with 12 points, and Logan Rosenfelder followed with 10 points.

Head coach Matt Miller said North Callaway (2-2) remembers when it lost its season opener 65-42 in Centralia so the defense was much improved from that night.

“The difference in the game was our defense and free throw shooting,” Miller said. “We did a great job of slowing them down.”

For Centralia, it was one short of tying its season-low scoring total this season it achieved Tuesday in a 60-41 loss to Clarence Cannon Conference foe Macon.

Macon plays for the tournament championship against Class 2 No. 2 Salisbury at 8 p.m. today following the third-place game at 6:30 p.m. between Harrisburg and Boonville and the consolation final between North Callaway and Hallsville (3-1) at 5 p.m, who edged Van-Far 64-63 on Thursday night.

North Callaway bested by high-octane Harrisburg offense, loses 74-58

The North Callaway boys were coming off a strong defensive game Dec. 2 at Silex but were pushed to the limit Tuesday night.

The Thunderbirds lost 74-58 to Harrisburg (3-1) in the first round of the Centralia Invitational Tournament after the offense that was averaging 71 points prior to Tuesday let loose. The Bulldogs had five score in double figures and two snag double-digit rebounds, and combined for six 3-pointers.

Brayden Ott knocked down four of the 3-pointers to lead Harrisburg with 23 points, and Braden Wyatt and Hunter Cole each pulled down 11 rebounds. Wyatt finished with a double-double after scoring 10 points while also blocking three shots. Hayven Samuels followed Ott’s scoring total with 15 points.

Head coach Matt Miller said he knew the Thunderbirds (1-2) had a tough test in Harrisburg but like how his players competed, cutting the deficit to as low as eight points in the second half. 

“They can score the ball,” Miller said. “I told the guys, ‘They can put 80 on you. If they put 80 on you, you’re probably not going to win the game.’ They shoot the ball well, spread you out and get downhill.”

Sam Pezold shouldered the scoring for North Callaway in the third quarter, tallying 10 of his team-high 19 points. He drained two of his four 3-pointers in the quarter, but ultimately, the Thunderbirds didn’t have another reach double figures. Jordan Fishburn finished with eight points and two 3-pointers, and Trenton Jones, Isiah Craighead and Gavin Rasmussen each scored six points, while combining for 26 rebounds.

Jones had the majority of those boards as he finished with 16 while battling Wyatt, Cole and Trace Combs — who finished with 12 points and seven rebounds — all night. Miller said his assistant coaches, Andrew Klein and Joseph Mueller, has done a nice job working with Jones to prepare him for high-contact nights like Tuesday.

“Sometimes, (Jones) is kind of passive in there, but our assistant coach has done good job working with him and getting him to be aggressive on both ends of the floor,” Miller said. ‘“Every rebound is yours. I don’t care about the fouls. Every rebound is yours, and go be more aggressive.’ He’s really taken ownership of that.”

Harrisburg started building its lead after Samuels came away with a pair of steals as part of his nine-point quarter, giving the Bulldogs an 11-6 lead with five minutes left in the first quarter. North Callaway’s deficit grew to 23-13 after one following a circus-shot that went down for Ott as part of a 3-point play.

The Thunderbirds drew within 29-20 about halfway through the second quarter after Craighead hit a midrange jumper. After another Harrisburg run, North Callaway trailed 37-20 with almost two minutes left and eventually were down 42-29 at halftime.

“They put a lot of pressure on you at both ends of the floor,” Miller said. “They’ll trap you and turn you over.”

Miller said the third quarter was when North Callaway made more shots, especially Pezold. The Thunderbirds trailed by single digits after a Pezold 3-pointer but were immediately down double digits again after Ott nailed a 3-pointer at the other end. 

Ott drained three of his 3-pointers in the third quarter to keep Harrisburg in control, and Carter Bremer, who finished with eight points off the bench, converted on one of his two 3-point plays off a North Callaway turnover. These plays ultimately helped Harrisburg coast in the fourth quarter.

“Guys making shots helps a little bit, but we picked up the energy on the defensive end to try to do some things to slow them down,” Miller said. “We try to get back in it and then miss some free throws and miss some layups. We’d miss a layup, then they go down and hit a 3. Five-point swing, and then it’s hard to come back that way.”