The last few minutes erased a possible victory Tuesday for the Centralia boys but didn’t nullify the careers of three seniors.

Centralia Senior Night Photo Gallery

The Panthers led Southern Boone — received votes in the latest Class 4 state poll — until early in the fourth quarter but lost 56-52 on Senior Night. It was the second straight home game for Centralia where it fell just short against state-caliber competition, losing to Clarence Cannon Conference foe and Class 3 No. 6 Palmyra by two points in overtime.

Head coach Scott Humphrey said there were too many mistakes in the final minutes that didn’t occur during the rest of the game, when Centralia (14-10) had a double-digit lead at moments. The Panthers turned the ball over several times to give Southern Boone (18-4) additional possessions they turned into points. 

Chase Morris came through for the Eagles with a game-high 21 points and 10 points in the fourth quarter, and Southern Boone shot 16-for-21 on free throws in the second half. The Eagles took so many free throws after Centralia found themselves deep in foul trouble, to the point where senior Cullen Bennett and Logan Rosenfelder each fouled out.

“We got in foul trouble, and that hurt but honestly we survived that,” Humphrey said. “We got to be able to take care of the ball at the end. That’s on everybody, and that’s on me trying to put them in positions to be successful.”

Humphrey said despite losing a potential steady stream of points later in the game from Bennett and Rosenfelder — from having to be benched to prolong their availability — he said senior Beau Hatton had a solid game with three rebounds and good defense and freshman Ethan Ross showed up well in a tough situation with six points and three rebounds off the bench. 

Travis Brooks finished with 12 points, seven rebounds and three 3-pointers, and senior Noah Kropf had nine points. Humphrey said football tight end Anthony Ford was big figuratively and literally, leading the Panthers with 12 points and eight rebounds. For example, after a swath of fouls hit Centralia’s roster in the third quarter, Southern Boone cut its deficit to 41-39 before a Ford offensive putback turned into a 3-point play pushed the margin to 44-39.

“Anthony Ford was a load down low,” Humphrey said. “He’s tough man. Big Ant just keeps getting better and better as the season gets along.”

Humphrey said Brooks was aggressive when knocking down shots early to effectively attack Southern Boone’s 1-3-1 zone defense, and of course, he can’t overlook the contributions from his seniors. He said Kropf was Centralia’s leading scorer in several games last week and his consistency has “put him over the top” this year, Bennett has been a “Swiss Army knife” for the Panthers and the “freakishly athletic” Hatton brings much to the team after not competing on the hardwood since his freshman year.

“Those three kids are great kids,” Humphrey said. “They’re the type of kids that you want to grow up and want your boys to be just like them and you’d be OK if your daughter dated them.”

Bennett, Kropf and Hatton all respect Humphrey and the value that basketball has brought to their daily lives. Being a Panther has meant a lot over four years for Bennett and Kropf and two for Hatton.

“You learn a lot of valuable life lessons through sports,” Bennett said. “Coach Humphrey is really good about preaching about getting up and going and just staying the course. It’s a good life lesson.”

“This program’s built on toughness,” Kropf said. “That’s one thing it’s made these past four years. It’s just made me a tougher person with games like this and just a tougher person overall.”

“I didn’t expect to join basketball until the last minute,” Hatton said. “My friends, Cullen and Noah, got me into it and I’ve learned a lot of lessons from it.”

Kropf said the Panthers have definitely had its share of fun based on one of his favorite memories from over the summer.

“This summer, we stayed the night in a hotel and did a shootout in Poplar Bluff,” Kropf said. “Between games, we just had a lot of fun, whether we were in the hotel or going out. We went and watched a movie together, and we just did a lot of fun stuff.”

Even though Tuesday was Centralia’s second straight loss, they were both after back-and-forth contests and still left the team as the winner of eight of its previous 11. That is the Panthers’ best stretch of the season that was possible after the seniors said they turned the corner after a victory over a certain rival about a month ago.

“Beating (state-ranked) Hallsville this year,” Bennett said when asked about his favorite memory. “We were in a slump, then we did that and it slingshotted us to winning a bunch of games in a row. That game was a turning point for our season.”

Humphrey agrees Centralia has been playing its basketball since that turning point but needs to be better to avoid losses like Palmyra and Southern Boone in districts, where the competition becomes more challenging the deeper a team advances.

“I don’t think if we had played these teams earlier in the season that these games would be (as close),” Humphrey said. “In the same breath, we have to find a way to close these games out.”