Montgomery County’s sophomores were too much to handle for the North Callaway Thunderbirds during an Eastern Missouri Conference boys game on Dec. 20 at Ballew & Snell Court.

The sophomores scored a combined 43 points to help the Wildcats remain undefeated in conference play. MCHS improved to 6-4 overall and 4-0 in EMO play with a 51-48 win over North Callaway.

“It was big,” said Isaiah Thomas, one of the sophomores. “We needed this win. We came out and played strong.”

Three sophomores finished in double figures for the Wildcats, who also defeated Wright City, Wellsville-Middletown and Silex in conference play. Clayton Parker scored 20 points, including 12 in the first half, and Thomas and Jay Rodgers each had 10 points. Another sophomore, Tyler Erwin, hit two huge free throws in the closing seconds.

Parker and Erwin are back for another year on varsity, while Thomas and Rodgers are playing varsity for the first time.

“I feel like we have a good connection,” Rodgers said. “We just have to continue that throughout our high school careers.”

MCHS bounced back from a 52-36 loss to Payson-Seymour (Ill.) in the Rumble In The River Shootout on Dec. 20 in Quincy, Ill. The 36 points marked a season low for the Wildcats.

“We worked hard,” Rodgers said. “We didn’t play our best in our last game. We came out this time and we did good. It’s good to get that conference win.”

The victory over the Thunderbirds gave the Wildcats a big boost of confidence for their biggest trip of the season. They will head to Kansas City on Dec. 28 to play Lafayette County, which finished second in Class 3 last year, in the Second Annual Twelve Courts of Christmas Shootout at Hy-Vee Arena. Game time is scheduled at 4 p.m.

“I think that’s going to be really fun,” Rodgers said. “It will give us a chance for us to bond really well as a team.”

MCHS will wrap up its 2022 portion of its schedule on Dec. 30 with a road game against Monroe City.

The Wildcats came back from a 16-9, first-quarter deficit to beat North Callaway. MCHS led by as many as 10 points in the second quarter before the Thunderbirds came back to get within one point twice in the fourth quarter.

With the Wildcats leading 49-48 with 20 seconds left in the game, Erwin sank two free throws to extend his team’s lead to three points.

North Callaway had a chance to tie the game in the closing seconds, but a 3-point attempt from Matthew Weber – who finished with a game-high 22 points – was no good.

“It was intense,” Rodgers said. “We had guys diving on the floor and making big plays for us to really help us win that game.”

The Wildcats began the second quarter with a 7-0 run to take a 19-16 lead. North Callaway later came back to tie it at 23-23 before MCHS went on a 10-0 run to take a 33-23 lead. Parker scored six points during that run.

“We know that we usually come out and don’t play strong during that time, so we had to come out and get it done,” Thomas said.

MCHS’ next conference game will be on Jan. 17 at Bowling Green.