Steve Dunford – franklincountynews-com

ZEIGLER –  For decades when you would look at the schedule and you would see Elverado on the schedule, you would think it was an automatic W.

The Falcons left the Black Diamond a couple years for greener pastures in the South Egyptian, to play schools closer to their enrollment.  Last year was rough times as well, as Elverado was 0-26 in their new league.

With a couple of transfers from Carbondale, and everyone returning, good times have returned to Elkville, as the Falcons are sitting at 15-7 on the year.

All year I have been telling teams that Brendan Whiting will have a game where he explodes on someone He had 29 points in seven three pointers and going a perfect 7-7 from the free throw line as Z-R defeated Elverado 69-59  Steven Anderson added 14 on the night for the Tornadoes.

Here is what Coach Matt Morgan had to say about the victory; “It felt good for the simple fact that I feel like that was the first game where we’ve competed for all 32 minutes without any major mental lapses. There were points where we could’ve caved but they stuck through it and it paid of. I’m extremely happy for our all our kids at both levels!”

“Our crowd was unbelievable, especially the student section.”

“It was a total team effort. We had 36 rebounds for the game which is a season high. We controlled the glass and for the most part took quality shots and had quality possessions which allowed our transition defense to be much improved.”

“Jakob Baxter and Franky Rebolledo stepped up when we got into some foul trouble. Those two played some very important minutes for us and contributed in big ways.”

The Tornadoes are 2-13 on the season.  They fell to Waltonville on the road last night 53-28.  They have another tough road test, as they go on the road to face the Goreville Blackcats, Friday night.  If you can not make the long road trip, the game will be streamed on blackcatsnewtork-com.

BOX SCORE:

ZEIGLER-ROYALTON (69)  Whiting 0 7 8-8 29; Anderson 4 0 6-9 14; Domenick 1 2 0-0 8; Rebebello 1 2 0-0 8; Bollinger 4 0 0-0 8; Baxter 0 0 0-0 0

ELVERADO (59)  Johnson 8 1 8-11 27; Dunham 2 1 4-4 11; Penn 4 1 0-0 11; White 0 2 0-0 6; Savenson 1 0 2-2 4; Cavinder 0 0 0-0 0; Funk 0 0 0-0 0

SCORE BY QUARTERS:

ZEIGLER-ROYALTON    14    14    15    26  –  69

ELVERADO                            9    15    16    19  –  59