High school boys' basketball: Montgomery County 54, North Callaway 26

MONTGOMERY CITY - The Wildcats captured a second consecutive Eastern Missouri Conference championship by subduing the Thunderbirds on Tuesday night.

North Callaway (11-12, 5-3 EMO) was behind 15-4 after one quarter and trailed 35-6 at the break.

Senior guard Cody Cash ended up with 10 points for the Thunderbirds.

"Montgomery County got in us and guarded us hard," North Callaway head coach Matt Miller said. "We did not handle it very well."

Ke'Lyjah Carter delivered a game-high 20 points for the Wildcats (18-7, 10-0).

In a 52-48 EMO victory over Bowling Green on Monday night in Kingdom City, freshman guard Sam Pezold connected for a career-high 26 points and the Thunderbirds weathered a fourth-quarter comeback by the Bobcats.

North Callaway jumped out to a 10-2 advantage after one quarter and outscored Bowling Green 15-10 in the second quarter to open up a 25-12 lead at the break.

The Thunderbirds were on top 39-25 entering the fourth quarter, but were forced to resist the Bobcats after they outscored North Callaway 23-13 over the last 8 minutes.

Pezold - who knocked down three 3-pointers - paced three players in double figures for the Thunderbirds. Cash followed with 14 points and also logged eight rebounds, seven assists and seven steals.

Sophomore guard Matthew Weber chipped in with 11 points for North Callaway.

"This was a really good conference win," Miller said. "I think this was our best defensive performance of the entire season and I was very happy with the players who scored for us."

Charlie Bowen led Bowling Green with 15 points.

The Thunderbirds end the regular season with an EMO contest at Wright City at 6 p.m. Thursday.