T-Birds capture seventh place at South Callaway

MOKANE - The No. 7 seed North Callaway Thunderbirds built a 35-22 halftime lead and claimed seventh place at the South Callaway Invitational Tournament with Friday night's 60-42 triumph over the No. 8 MMA Colonels.

North Callaway (2-11) owned a narrow 12-9 edge after one quarter, but then outscored Missouri Military Academy 23-13 in the second quarter. The Thunderbirds carried a 52-34 advantage into the fourth quarter.

Sophomore guard Coy Danison finished with 13 points to pace North Callaway, which made 15-of-19 free throws. Senior guard Braden Shramek connected on four 3-pointers in adding 12 points.

"It was a good win - we improved and played better as a team," Thunderbirds head coach Matt Thomas said. "We also made a lot more unselfish passes. One of our goals in each game is to outshoot the other team from the free-throw line, and we did that."

Bayemedine Oldckbayar hit a pair of 3-pointers in topping the Colonels (1-9) with a game-high 14 points. Sean Fitzgerald contributed 11 points.

North Callaway played for seventh place after falling to No. 6 seed Russellville 58-49 on Thursday night. The Indians overcame a 27-23 halftime deficit by outscoring the Thunderbirds 35-22 in the second half.

Senior guard Manzell Payne led North Callaway with 14 points, while senior guard Will Crawford and sophomore guard Paul Reno followed with seven apiece.

Dylan Henderson tallied a game-high 22 points for Russellville and Beau Bryant provided 12.

The Thunderbirds turn around and play MMA again Tuesday night in Mexico. The varsity game will be played first at 5 p.m.