After having its 22-game Eastern Missouri Conference winning streak snapped on Dec. 17, the Montgomery County boys basketball team was looking to bounce back against North Callaway on Dec. 30 on the road.

But the Thunderbirds had other ideas.

The Wildcats had their four-game winning streak to North Callaway come to an end with a 55-44 loss. MCHS dropped to 4-5 overall and 2-2 in Eastern Missouri Conference play.

North Callaway stormed to an 18-6 lead early in the second quarter before the Wildcats rallied to tie the game at 41-41 midway in the fourth. The Thunderbirds outscored MCHS 14-3 in the final four minutes of the game.

“They made shots,” MCHS coach Scott Kroeger said. “They were disciplined with the basketball for the most part. They made it tough for us to score. We had quite a few turnovers, which was a credit to them. They were pretty motivated. The only positive was we get another shot at them.”

The two teams will square off again at 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 11 in a first-round game of the South Callaway Tournament. MCHS, which won the tournament last year, is the No. 3 seed, while North Callaway is seeded sixth.

“We talked about it in the locker room,” Kroeger said. “We have to take responsibility for the things that we do wrong. It starts with me. I take responsibility for my stuff and it goes down to the kids. We’ve got to show more maturity than that.”

The Wildcats lost their second straight conference game after starting league play with back-to-back wins over Silex and Wright City. MCHS’ 22-game conference winning streak ended with a loss to Wellsville-Middletown on Dec. 17 at home.

“We obviously put ourselves at a really big disadvantage in trying to win the conference,” said Kroeger, whose team won the EMO championship in each of the last two years. “We still have a lot of tough games left. At this point, I’m looking to right the ship, period. A conference championship is kind of off the table. Right now, we need a lot of help.”

The Wildcats haven’t played since their contest with W-M. Their games against Monroe City on Dec. 20 and New Haven on Dec. 21 were postponed due to COVID-related issues.

“A long break in the middle of the season like that is pretty rough,” Kroeger said. “But that’s not an excuse for some of the things that we did in the first half. It would have been different if we were rusty and were playing together. But we were finger pointing and blaming each other in the first half. It doesn’t matter how much rust you have or how good you’re playing, blaming each other puts yourself out of the 8-ball.”

Senior Ethan Rakers scored 15 points with two 3-pointers to lead the Wildcats. He was the lone MCHS player in double figures.

“I expect a lot out of him,” Kroeger said. “He’s been doing a lot for me for years. A lot of times, we go as he goes. Whatever kind of energy he’s bringing, whatever kind of effort he’s bringing and whatever plays he’s making, he determines a lot of what we do. In the second half, he really picked up and made some shots for us.”

MCHS got back on the wininng track on Jan. 5, beating Fort Zumwalt East 53-52 in overtime to improve to 5-5. The Wildcats are looking to finish with their third straight winning season.

“We still have a lot of season in front of us,” Kroeger said. “We have two tournaments and we have districts. We have to work on improving one game at a time.”