Junior guard Braden Shramek supplied a game-high 17 points, lifting the seventh-seeded North Callaway Thunderbirds to a 57-51 consolation semifinal victory over No. 6 Van-Far Indians at the 90th-annual Bowling Green Tournament on Thursday night.
The T-Birds (5-12) will play the No. 4 Silex Owls in the consolation championship game at 4 p.m. Saturday. The Owls hit a shot at the buzzer to defeat No. 8 Winfield 56-54 on Thursday.
Despite a 34-31 halftime lead, North Callaway head coach Matt Thomas didn't feel like his team played particularly well in the first half.
Creating opportunities on defense allowed the T-Birds to break the game open, according to Thomas.
"In that third quarter, we had some good defensive stops and we ran that lead up to 10 (points) and I think that was the ball game," Thomas said.
North Callaway outscored the Indians 23-20 in the final two quarters.
T-Birds senior forward Michael Pezold logged 16 points, while senior center Steven Coleman finished with 12 points and a team-high six rebounds.
Senior guard Brandon Hagedorn scored four points and handed out five assists for the T-Birds.
Nick Barnes tallied 14 points to pace Van-Far. Sharrod Connor and Josh Hodde finished with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
"We gutted it out; we didn't play well in that first half," Thomas said. "...We got some stops and scores when we needed them."