After a loss to North Callaway in the opening round of the Southern Boone Classic Thursday night at Ashland, the California Pintos defeated Linn Friday, followed by a win against Fatima Saturday to secure a fifth place finish in the tourney.
In first-round action Thursday, the second-seeded Pintos suffered a 60-56 loss to seventh-seeded North Callaway.
California led 17-12 after the first quarter, 34-33 at the half, and 47-42 after three quarters, however, the Thunderbirds outscored the Pintos 18-9 in the final frame to pull off the win, 60-56.
"This wasn't a good game," California Coach Blair Scanlon said. "We came out flat, not sure why."
California was led by Dylan Albertson with 25 points. Austin Gump and Jaden Barr each scored 11, and Damon Shaw added six.
North Callaway was led by Brett Metcalf with 20 points, followed by Miguel Hudson and Chance Kee with nine each.
California then defeated sixth-seeded Linn 56-36 Friday in the semifinal round of the losers' bracket.
The Pintos outscored the Wildcats 17-9 in the first quarter, 17-6 in the second and 13-9 in the third to lead 47-24 going into the final frame. Linn outscored California 12-9 in the final frame, but it was too little too late as the Pintos took the win, 56-36.
Barr led California with 22 points, followed by Gump with 12.
"We played pretty good," Scanlon said. "Our defense was good. It was tough after the loss to North Callaway, but I thought we responded well."
The win moved the Pintos to the consolation game Saturday against fourth-seeded Fatima, where California captured a 65-50 win and a fifth-place finish in the tourney.
"This was a good win," Scanlon said. "We hit our shots. We had some turnovers late in the game because we got tired. We had 11 guys taking the ACT test early Saturday morning before this game, and that was after a late game Friday, so our guys played well."
The Pintos led 17-11 after the first quarter, 36-17 at the half and 53-30 after three quarters.
Albertson led California with 21 points, while Barr scored 14 and Shaw added 12.
In other action at the tourney Saturday, third-seeded Father Tolton defeated fifth-seeded Hallsville 74-68 Saturday to secure the championship, and top-seeded Harrisburg defeated North Callaway 54-49 Saturday to take third place.
The Pintos (12-6 and 2-2 in the Tri-County Conference) will play at Eldon Friday, beginning with the freshman game at 5 p.m., and the JV and varsity games to follow respectively.
California will host Pilot Grove Saturday. The JV girls' game will begin at 4 p.m., with the varsity boys' game to follow.
With the Pintos' final games of the regular season just around the corner, Scanlon said, "We're a scary team and I think we can beat anybody. We have six seniors and I think we have just as much right to win districts as any other team."