The Nemaha Central boys continued play in their home Thunder Classic Thursday night against Marysville with a spot in the championship game on the line and despite the Bulldogs hitting 11 3-pointers the Thunder won 60-48.

Both teams started fast offensively early with Marysville taking an 18-16 lead after the first quarter behind four 3-pointers in the quarter from senior Jackson Rader while Kurtis Beck and Carter Lutz paced the Thunder with five each.

Marysville hit two more triples in the second quarter with senior Bryar O’Neil scoring four points in the frame to give the Bulldogs a 31-27 lead at the half.

The third quarter is when the game flipped as Thunder head coach Jon Thomas moved from man-to-man to a zone and it paid dividends as the Bulldogs were held to just six points in the quarter while seniors Tyler Gerety and Landen Baker combined for eight points for Nemaha Central to take a 44-37 into the fourth.

In the fourth the Thunder iced the game from the free throw line going 10-of-14 while finishing the game 18-of-23 from the stripe.

Marcus Beck was great all night for the Thunder scoring a game-high 17 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the line including a two-hand flush in the first half.

Marysville in the loss had Jackson Rader score 15 points on five 3-pointers.

Next up for the Thunder (8-1) is St. Mary’s in the Thunder Classic Championship game Saturday at 6 p.m. while Marysville with play Atchison in the third place game at 4:30 p.m.