MONTGOMERY CITY - The No. 3 North Callaway Thunderbirds forged a 23-8 halftime lead in turning back the No. 6 Missouri Military Academy Colonels in first-round play at the Class 3, District 7 Tournament late Tuesday night.
MMA outscored North Callaway 16-13 in the third quarter to make it 36-24, but the Thunderbirds edged the Colonels 20-17 over the last 8 minutes to secure their 10th win in a row. North Callaway (16-10) won all three meetings with MMA this season.
Junior forward Tanner Pezold sparked the Thunderbirds with a game-high 15 points and eight rebounds Tuesday night. Freshman forward Tully Thomsen also provided 11 points and junior guard Coy Danison had 10.
Freshman guard Gabe Cash contributed seven points, six assists, four steals and six rebounds for North Callaway.
"Our defense was excellent early and when our offense caught up, we took control of the game," Thunderbirds head coach Matt Miller said. "(The Colonels') guards are their strength and we had a hand in their face all game long."
Bayern-Erdine Oldckbayar paced MMA (9-14) with 14 points and Sean Fitzgerald was next with 11.
North Callaway now moves on to a semifinal clash with No. 2 seed (St. Charles) Christian at 7 tonight. The Eagles (13-12) advanced with a 71-41 first-round blitz of No. 7 seed Winfield on Tuesday night.
"We're looking forward to playing a very sound Christian team, with two excellent scoring players," Miller said.
In the first semifinal at 5:30 p.m. today, top-seeded Montgomery County (24-2) meets No. 4 Lutheran St. Charles (12-14).