The Centralia boys’ first-round district game on Tuesday was full of the win-or-go-home spirit.

Centralia vs Macon Districts Photo Gallery

For the full 32 minutes, the Panthers engaged in a fight for the right to face No. 2 seed Hallsville (17-9) in the Class 4 District semifinals at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in Centralia and came out on top over Clarence Cannon Conference foe Macon 47-46. The Tigers refused to go away, taking the lead in the second half and draining a couple of 3-pointers in the final minute.

Head coach Scott Humphrey said Centralia’s 58-34 win over Macon (8-17) in the regular season didn’t matter as both teams were desperately trying to save their season. After the Panthers (16-11) lost their lead going into the fourth quarter and trailed by as much as five points, Humphrey said post player Anthony Ford came up big with a double-double of 17 points — nine in the fourth quarter — and 10 rebounds while going 7-for-7 from the free-throw line.

“He had a big fourth quarter,” Humphrey said. “He got some putbacks, got some free throws and he just played extremely tough.”

Macon were putting in some offensive rebounds and earned two 3-point plays in the third quarter. Jonathan Bray capped the comeback with a 3-pointer to give Macon a 34-33 lead after three. 

Ford said Centralia had to stay together to step up in big moments and had to avoid panicking when the game started to not go its way. About halfway through the fourth quarter, Ford pushed through contact for a game-tying 3-point play prior to Cullen Bennett driving in for a go-ahead bucket for the 40-38 Centralia lead.

“It’s just about you’ve got to be locked in,” Ford said. “It’s district time so everybody’s got to be locked in. That’s just how I focus my game.”

Humphrey said Logan Rosenfelder stepped up in a big way with 12 points, including seven points in the third quarter, but also because he never came out of the game. Bennett pulled down eight rebounds, and Travis Brooks knocked down two 3-pointers.

Centralia didn’t help itself for much of the game by missing about a handful of layups and shots that rimmed out. On top of that, the Panthers finished 14-for-29 from the free-throw line. Humphrey said this inability to give themselves “breathing room” on the scoreboard could lead to costly mistakes, but ultimately, the Panthers did well enough to win a game that was the “definition of survive and advance.”

“Hopefully, we get here Thursday and understand it’s going to be a competitive game and a really good environment so we’re just going to have to take a deep breath,” Humphrey said. “Let the chips fall where they fall. This is the one I feel like we probably had the most pressure on us because the seeding said we were supposed to win. We’ve just got to relax and play basketball.”

Centralia doesn’t own a district victory over Hallsville since a 59-44 win in 2012 and believes it could have had two wins this season against an Indians squad that was state-ranked at one point. The Panthers defeated Hallsville 71-70 in the semifinals of the Harrisburg tournament before losing a 29-25 halftime lead in the regular season finale at home in a 61-49 loss.

“We were up by four at half the last time we played them and then went on a 22-0 run,” Humphrey said. “We can't go through a big scoring drought. We’re going to have to be locked in defensively.”

Ford said the Panthers remember the 59-39 loss to the Indians in districts last season so Thursday can’t come soon enough.

“There’s nothing more that we want than to play them in districts,” Ford said. “They beat us last year in a heartbreaking loss so we would love to have another shot at them.”