Third-seeded North Callaway boys basketball lost 61-52 against No. 2 seed Clopton in the consolation bracket semifinals of the Bowling Green Tournament Thursday evening at Bowling Green Middle School. As a result, the Thunderbirds fall to 10-9, while the Hawks fly to 14-5.
Clopton took a 12-point lead at halftime after outscoring North Callaway 28-16. In the third quarter, the Thunderbirds cut it to six points before the end of the quarter.
However, the Hawks scored the first eight points of the fourth quarter to take a 14-point lead. North Callaway cut it down to five points, then Clopton went on a 7-0 run to bring its lead to 12; the Thunderbirds outscored the Hawks 36-33 in the second half.
Five of Clopton's players scored at least 10 points, with McKinley Eivins and Chase Hall each recording a team-high 14 points; Hall made four 3-pointers. The Hawks' Tyler Kuntz hit three 3s and scored 11 points.
Matthew Weber registered a game-high 24 points and five 3s, while Samuel Pezold scored 10 points for North Callaway.
In his first game back since suffering a concussion against South Callaway on Jan. 3, Isiah Craighead scored eight points and tied for the team lead in rebounds with four and steals with three.
Gavin Rasmussen was the Thunderbirds' co-leader with four rebounds and second in assists with four, while Bradyn O'Neal led the team with five assists and tied Craighead with three steals.
"We fell behind early," North Callaway coach Matt Miller said. "We made a good run to start the third quarter. Then, they had a good run, and we cut it down even closer. But we just couldn't get over the hump. We have to start playing better defense, and we have to play a lot better as a team on the offensive end. And if we do that, we'll be just fine for the last games, including district."
Next, North Callaway (10-9, 3-2) takes on Eastern Missouri Conference opponent Louisiana (13-6, 2-2) at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in Kingdom City. The game was initially scheduled to be played on Dec. 16 but got moved due to the Bulldogs' team having a flu outbreak.