11-30-07
BY JACK BULLOCK
ZEIGLER - It has been a long time since Zeigler-Royalton started a boy’s basketball season 5-0.

The last time was the 1981-82 season.

Friday night at home the Tornadoes went on a 16-0 second quarter ending run to turn an eight-point deficit into an eight-point halftime lead against Galatia.

Although Z-R shot just 12-24 from the foul line, got out rebounded 41-40 and committed 14 turnovers – they stayed undefeated with a 71-63 victory over a game - but cold shooting - Bearcats squad.

Coach Jamie Moyers’ club – after winning the Christopher Thanksgiving Tournament and beating Carrier Mills on Tuesday – faced a stern test on Friday night at home but overcame their short comings to pick up a key non-conference win.

Aaron Jones scored 20 first half points – 24 in the game – to pace the ABV Preseason 10th ranked Class 1A Carbondale Supersectional Area team.

But the real hero of the contest for the Tornadoes was 6-foot-5 junior Kyle Fitch who hurt Galatia on the inside with 18 points.

While the Bearcats defense collapsed on Jones in the second half – Fitch scored nine of his points in the third and fourth quarters to help the Tornadoes triumph.
“He (Fitch) stepped up for us tonight,” said Z-R head coach Jaime Moyers. “He really played a good game and so did Jones tonight. They both stepped up for us.”

The Bearcats (3-2) can point to poor shooting night as they launched enough shots to beat two teams but hit just 26-of-80 attempts and lost their second consecutive game after winning three games to begin the season at the Grayville Thanksgiving Tournament.

“We are pretty young at some spots out there on the floor with some freshman and sophomores playing and those kids are going to make mistakes,” said Coach Wallace. “We missed some shots down the stretch that we needed to make to win this game.”

The 16-0 run in the second quarter happened after Galatia seemed to take command of the contest.

Leading 26-24 at the first horn – Galatia opened the second quarter on a 7-1 run.
Robbie Engle – who scored 15 points for the Bearcats - netted a lay in the first minute of the second period off of a Z-R turnover.

After a Joey Cullum offensive rebound score for the Cats – Engle hit his second 3-pointer of the game to end that run at 33-25 with 5:08 before intermission.

But those final five minutes of the half belonged to the hosts.

Jones netted eight points and dished out two assists in the scoring spurt that gave the Tornadoes a 41-33 lead at the break.

He scored on a pair of nice moves in the lane and a midrange 15-footer from the left elbow.

In this run he fed teammate Fitch with two nice passes for easy scores. He ended the half with a fast break dunk on a pass from Tyler Mitchell with :05 remaining.

As it turned out – the Tornadoes were far from finishing off the visitors.

The third quarter saw Galatia get back into the contest by forcing six Z-R turnovers that led to the games final tie with 2:12 left in the frame.

Andrew Wallace – a 5-foot-11 junior – hit a pair of 3-pointers in the quarter.

His second bomb cut the Z-R lead to just 48-45 with 3:41 left. Seconds later Galatia made a steal and senior Brian Gurley hit a shot in transition to make it a one point game and force a Tornadoes’ TO.

“They (Galatia) played physical and they came to play tonight and played to win,” added Moyers. “We made mistakes and turned the ball over too much. I told them we have to play smarter than what we did tonight.”

After another Fitch basket in close – Galatia evened the score at 50-apiece with a Gurley trifecta from the right corner.

But a Jones score on a spin move in the lane and a Jimmy Stevens score on a back door pass from Mitchell gave the lead back for good to Coach Moyers’ team.

Fitch scored just before the third quarter buzzer to give his Tornadoes a 56-53 lead heading home.

Galatia got one final push at Z-R with just under two minutes left in the contest.

Sparked by Engle and Gurley the Bearcats closed the gap to 65-63.

A rebound basket and a 3-pointer from the top of the arc by Engle sandwiched around a transition score from Gurley forced another Z-R timeout with 1:52 to go.

However the Bearcats missed 18 shots in the fourth quarter alone and never got any closer as Zeigler-Royalton pulled away.

Fitch hit a pair of free throws late and Jones scored his final bucket of the evening on a lay up with :41 left.

A backdoor lay in Tim Downen on a pass by Mitchell sealed the deal and kept the Black Diamond West Division Tornadoes without a loss.

“Wow, that seems ridiculous doesn’t it?” said Zeigler-Royalton head coach Jaime Moyers after being told that Z-R was 5-0 for the first time in 26 years. “That is a big deal for us. Our first quarter was horrible tonight. We gave them some wide open three’s but we corrected some things and in the second quarter we shut them down and went on the big run.”

Following Jones’ 24 and Fitch with 18 – Mitchell added 13 points for Z-R.
The Tornadoes hit 29-58 from the field but just 1-of-10 from behind the arc.

Coach Moyers club was also mediocre from the foul line (50 percent) however these stats were fine compared to the shooting woes of Galatia.

The Bearcats hit just 32 percent overall and wasted nearly all of their 25 offensive rebounds.

Gurley led four Galatia players in double figures with 19 points.

“He (Gurley) has improved a lot from last season and he shot the ball well for us,” added Coach Wallace. “He needs to shoot the ball well for us.”

Engle’s 15 was next on the list followed by Wallace with 14 and Cullum with 11.
Galatia managed just 2-of-5 from the free throw line in defeat.

Zeigler-Royalton faces BDC West rival Carterville at home next Tuesday while Galatia travels to Pope County on the same night.

“We need to rebound better if we are going to improve. Up until the last four minutes or so of the game our rebounding stunk,” Moyers explained. “You have to want the ball to be a good rebounding team and tonight we didn’t do as well as we need to. And if that doesn’t improve we’re going to struggle in a lot of games.”

Still the game was a milestone as Z-R hasn’t been this good early since Ronald Reagan was president.

“We are thrilled to be 5-0 but we have a lot of work to do,” finalized Moyers.

Galatia (63) - Beaty 1 0 2-3 4, Engle 3 3 0-1 15, Gurley 5 2 0-0 19, Cullum 4 1 0-1 11, Wallace 4 2 0-0 14
2FG-17, 3FG-9, FT-2-5, PF-17.
Zeigler-Royalton (71) - Jones 11 0 2-5 24, Ferguson 0 0 0-0 0, Fann 1 0 0-0 0, Fitch 6 0 6-11 18, Mitchell 31 4-6 13, Downen 4 0 0-0 8, Ingersoll 2 0 0-0 4.
2FG-28, 3FG-1, FT-12-24, PF-11.
Fouled Out - None.
Technical Fouls - None.