KINGDOM CITY - The Thunderbirds were outscored by the Panthers 8-4 late in the game in Tuesday night's season-opening loss.
North Callaway was only down 14-12 after one quarter, but Centralia outscored the Thunderbirds 16-7 in the second quarter to open up a 30-19 advantage. North Callaway rallied by outscoring the Panthers 15-4 in the third quarter to to pull even at 34-all.
The contest was tied again at 38-all, before Centralia secured the victory behind its late run.
Junior guard Cody Cash connected on all six of his 3-point attempts and made both of his free throws to direct the Thunderbirds with a game-high 22 points. Senior guard Gabe Cash was 4-of-5 from behind the arc to supply 14 points.
Gabe Cash also logged five assists and junior forward Noah Scrogum collected six rebounds.
"We played a good game against a really good team," North Callaway head coach Matt Miller said. "At the end, the difference was that Centralia has four players who've been starting since their sophomore year and we only have two players with starting experience.
"This should be a good learning experience to see what we have to do to get better."
John Duvant accounted for three of the Panthers' seven 3s in finishing with a team-high 13 points.
The Thunderbirds are the sixth seed for next week's 64th-annual Centralia Invitational Tournament. North Callaway squares off against No. 3 seed Hallsville in the first round at 9 p.m. Tuesday.