The North Callaway boys believe they’ll be ready in November for the start of basketball season.

Thunderbirds at Westran Shootout Photo Gallery

The Thunderbirds lost three games to South Shelby, Westran and Moberly on Tuesday at Westran High School in Huntsville for a summer shootout, but they didn’t feel discouraged based on their summer as a whole. 

North Callaway went into Tuesday with a smaller roster, including being absent two post players like reigning all-conference player Isiah Craighead while he nurses a calf injury, and it had finished its four summer shootouts with a winning record, head coach Matt Miller said. The Thunderbirds had a big senior class that included seven kids and will have several younger players fill bigger roles in the rotation.

“We’ve got a lot of young guys in new spots on varsity,” Miller said. “They’re figuring some stuff out. What better time to figure out varsity basketball in June as opposed to figuring it out in December?” 

Craighead and Sam Pezold are seniors that return as all-conference players and as the top two scoring options for the Thunderbirds, and Paul Russell expects to have much more varsity time. The junior group Miller likes includes Caleb Sheets, Levi Drake, CJ Cunningham, Erik Blair and Clayton Moore, who all have been with the team about every day. Sophomores Dalton Brewer and Austin Brown should be in the running for varsity minutes as well.

Miller said having a day like Tuesday was helpful in showing him the mental fortitude of his team.

“Our attitude’s been awesome, even today when we’ve been getting beat a little bit,” Miller said. “They want to be here. We’ve had a couple days of shootouts where we’ve had 10 varsity guys here.”

The games against Westran had the Hornets beat North Callaway in rebounding while Moberly knocked down many shots from the perimeter to widen its margin. When the Thunderbirds were on offense, Miller said he liked what he observed.

“We didn’t shoot the ball very well today,” Miller said. “We missed a lot of layups and a lot of wide open jump shots, but we’re getting good looks. That’s what I always look for in the summer, if we’re taking care of the basketball, playing ball the right way, sharing the ball and getting looks. Those things will fall in the wintertime.”