STAFF REPORT

Fans at the Christopher / Zeigler-Royalton basketball game Friday should have felt right at home sitting together.

After all, in football and some other sports, the two schools co-op to field a team made up of athletes from both schools. In high school basketball, they divide back into geographic rivals. Friday night, fans and parents sat together again – just on separate gymnasium sides as the two teams squared off.

Both teams came into the game with a modest amount of momentum. Christopher had won 5 of their past 7 games. Zeigler-Royalton  was on a 3-game win streak themselves.

Early on, Eric Stallman’s Bearcats decided to go inside against the Tornadoes. In the first quarter, Christopher received 8 of their 16 points inside the paint. ZR would score 8 points total for that quarter. And, just three minutes into the second quarter the Bearcats achieved their first double digit lead. They never looked back easily outscoring the Tornadoes in each second half quarter as well.

Echoing that early inside attack, big men Kevin Mercks, and R.J. Kuh paced the home team with 16 points apiece. Adding depth and balance, Towers broke double digits as well with 11. Matt Morgan’s ZR squad was paced by Weddle’s 11 points.

With the win, the Bearcats move to 9-3 overall, and back to .500 in the conference with a 2-2 mark in the Black Diamond West.

With the loss, Zeigler-Royalton drops to 13-5 overall, and the same 2-2 even water mark in the BDW.