Central's Michael Montgomery.

After faltering in the first two rounds of the Warhawk Invitational, the Central Mustangs finally found their stride on the tournament’s final day and defeated Shawnee Mission South, 44-36, to secure a seventh-place finish.

However, the victory was no sure thing.

The Mustangs (9-10) trailed throughout the game until center Matthew Ruder stole the ball and fed point guard C.J. McTizic for a layup with 5:35 to go in the fourth quarter.

Trailing for the first time in the contest, 30-29, Shawnee Mission South scored on its next possession to take back the lead. Unfazed, Central responded with a layup from forward Jakob Weber to give the Mustangs a 32-31 lead they would not surrender.

Ruder made it 34-31 with 3:40 to go when he hit a jumper, and guard Chris Spencer then sealed the victory with a pair of buckets and two free throws in the final three minutes.

“We would’ve lost that game without Chris,” coach Gary Hall said after the victory.

Spencer came off the bench and scored 12 points, eight of which came in the fourth quarter. Hall said Spencer’s play was important not only from a scoring standpoint, but also because of his point-guard skills.

“It was key because we lacked a confident ball handler, and Chris is pretty confident in his ability,” Hall said.

The Mustangs’ defense was also prominent in the fourth quarter when they held the Raiders to seven points.

“We played smart on defense, moving our feet, not using our hands,” Central swingman Bo Schneider said.

“I think we wore them down,” Hall said. “They started throwing the ball away, and we picked up a lot of loose balls and were able to score.”

Central struggled early in the contest, scoring its only first quarter field goal in the final minute of play when forward Joel Bonner put the ball in the hoop.

The Mustangs trailed 9-3 heading into the second quarter and were down 13-3 before closing the half with a 13-4 run. Central started putting things together in the second half, when Schneider scored five of his 10 points.

“When we finished strong in that first half that kind of brought us up,” Schneider said of Central’s second quarter effort, which gave the team a manageable 17-16 deficit at half.

Schneider, who scored in double figures in all three of Central’s Warhawk games, was grateful to finish the year on a positive note.

“You don’t really want to end the season losing,” Schneider said. “Because you’d have to think about it for the rest of the year.”

McTizic scored seven points, and Weber added seven more for the Mustangs in the season finale.

Schneider said the Mustangs brought a better energy to the court on the final day of the tournament.

“The first two days we came out dull,” he said. “We really didn’t want to finish last in this tournament, so we picked it up.”

Central had lost six straight games before earning a win against Shawnee Mission South. Hall said the team had struggled to find its chemistry after losing forward Coulter Vestal, who averaged 16 points and eight rebounds, in January.

“We’ve been up and down ever since,” he said.

Hall was proud of his team’s effort and said the players progressed and have a bright future.

“They’ve grown a lot,” he said. “But they’ve got to continue to work, continue to grow and continue to improve.”