CLARKSVILLE, Mo. - The North Callaway Thunderbirds were outscored by the Clopton Hawks 34-20 in the second half and had their four-game winning streak come to an end in Friday night's EMO loss.
North Callaway (6-9, 1-4 Eastern Missouri Conference) was only down 13-10 after one quarter and 21-19 at halftime. The Thunderbirds just trailed 34-28 going to the fourth quarter, but Clopton (10-5, 4-0) pulled away by outscoring North Callaway 21-11 over the last 8 minutes.
"Clopton has a really good team and it was their courtwarming, so it was a hostile environment," Thunderbirds head coach Matt Miller said. "They also have the experience factor and they're a darn-good defensive team.
"We couldn't get a lot going (offensively) and couldn't get into a flow. They were also a little more physical and beat us up on the boards."
Freshman forward Tully Thomsen responded with 14 points - including four 3-pointers - to pace North Callaway. Junior guard Coy Danison added 11 points, all in the first half, but was limited by an ankle injury in the second half.
Sophomore forward Xavier Sykes recorded a team-high five rebounds for the Thunderbirds.
Stephen Talbert sparked Clopton with a game-high 16 points.
North Callaway (2-7) lost the junior varsity contest 46-41. Sophomore guard Andrew Locastro scored a team-high 16 points and sophomore forward Mark Hollenberg was next with 10.
The Thunderbirds have drawn the sixth seed for this week's Bowling Green Tournament and face No. 3 Van-Far in the first round at 6:50 p.m. Tuesday. The game will be played in the middle school gym.
North Callaway will be seeking to avenge a 60-51 overtime loss to Van-Far in EMO play Dec. 13 at Kingdom City.
"We have to rebound the basketball," Miller said. "Van-Far is a very physical team and they killed us on the boards last time. That has to be our main focus.
"Offensively, we're a lot better - our ball movement is better and we have more parts. We're not as one-dimensional."