Then, again, if you like your basketball 'up-and-down' the floor, you would've been treated to plenty of made shots and points.

The host Tigers are a 'streaky' shooting team and they put together the best offensive runs (between the two teams) of the night and came up with the most stops.

Added all up and the formula produced a lopsided 76-53 victory for Coach Kevin Smith's club, its second win of the season (both coming against the Tornadoes).

The previous encounter occurred in the seventh place game at the Christopher Thanksgiving Tournament, with the Tigers prevailing 70-59.

Thompsonville dominated the glass on Thursday night, out-rebounding Zeigler-Royalton 40-28, while hitting a better percentage of shots, especially in the paint.

They also did a good job attacking the Z-R zone.

“It seems like when a team plays us zone, some of our sets against a zone with the shooters we have and with Shelby inside we've had some success,” said Coach Smith.

The Tigers are now 2-5 overall after the triumph and were led in scoring by 5-10 senior guard Brody Rone who 'lit up' the scoreboard and the scorebook with 29-points.

Inside 6-2 junior Kade Shelby came up big in the paint, notching 18-points while snagging 10-rebounds for a double-double in the win.

Five-nine junior guard Hayden Linhorst also got in on the fireworks, going off for 16-points in the win.

Zeigler-Royalton head coach Jimmy Stevens' Tornadoes dropped their seventh consecutive game to begin the season as his young club is learning the varsity game in the deep end of the pool.

One of the few players from last season with varsity experience is 5-11 senior guard Joe Earl.

Earl topped the Tornadoes with 24-points on the night and he helped keep Z-R close until the fourth quarter as his team continued to rally from behind, a situation that happened for the entire contest as Thompsonville never trailed.

Talon Mills, a 5-9 junior guard, added 15-points for Z-R in defeat.

“They (Thompsonville) have a bit more experience and it showed tonight. We talked with the kids before that game that with the ebbs and flows of the game and things aren't going great, typically that's turnovers and missed shots, you have to be able to sprint back on defense to the other end of the floor,” said Coach Stevens. “I told the kids you can't get beat in transition and expect to beat a team like Thompsonville that works very hard to get every (score) they get.”

The two biggest scoring runs of the night both were by the hosts.

With the game tight nearing the end of the first quarter, Thompsonville broke away with a run that overlapped into the second quarter.

Shelby scored six of his points early and grabbed six of his rebounds in the first quarter while Rone netted eight-points in the first frame.

Earl added six-points to his totals early as well, with teammate 6-1 junior Ashton Abrahamsen scoring twice on a pair baskets.

A pair of free throws by Mills cut the margin to just 17-15 Thompsonville with 1:30 left in the opening frame.

Thompsonville then launched its first big scoring burst.

Closing out the quarter with a Linhorst score, the Tigers pushed their lead to double-figures quickly in the second quarter.

The run was 16-2 with five different Thompsonville players contributing points.

Six-foot senior Skylar Woodring followed a Rone transition score with a 3-pointer from the right wing.

Linhorst added another drive in the lane and Shelby added points inside.

Back-to-back scores by Rone, including one on a nice assist from 5-9 sophomore Damien Clem, pushed the Tigers' advantage to 33-17 with 2:17 remaining in the half.

Coach Smith ended up a bit disappointed at halftime because his crew squandered part of that lead in the remainder of the second quarter.

A Zeigler-Royalton basket by 6-5 sophomore Cole McKinney, two more scores by Mills and an Earl drive in the lane with just :05 left in the half got the Tornadoes back to within eight at 33-25 at the break.

“I told the boys at halftime we don't handle prosperity at times. We were up 13 to 15 points but we let them (Zeigler-Royalton) cut it down to eight at halftime,” said Coach Smith. “Sometimes we struggle when we get a big lead. We just don't know how to finish off a team sometimes and that is just inexperience. We finally put them away so credit our kids. We did that tonight.”

Thompsonville tried the entire third quarter to shake free from the visitors.

With Rone added more points to the total, Thompsonville got up by a 50-36 score with Rone finishing a fast break with a pull up score in the paint in the run.

However a 9-2 scoring move by Z-R whittled the lead back down to just 52-45 heading to the fourth.

“Every time they (Thompsonville) got a rebound their guards looked to push the ball down the floor and get a lay up,” said Coach Stevens. “And if you don't sprint back down the floor defensively it makes it pretty easy for them to score.”

Coach Smith's squad clinched the victory with a 15-2 scoring spree to finish the game.

Rone scored six of the late points and a steal and fast break score by Clem, his only points of the game, along with two more buckets by Rone got the lead out to 74-51 with just under three minutes left.

Reserves for both teams mopped up the final moments.

“I'm not a fan of zone defenses but due to our size constraints (lack of height) we've had to play zone this year. And when you play zone you're going to give up some offensive rebounds,” said Coach Stevens. “It's just too difficult to be in the right position.”

The Tigers made nearly half of their shots (31-of-63 overall) and 29-of-51 (56.8 percent) from inside the arc.

Coach Stevens' team was 21-of-64 (32.8 percent) from the floor and just 2-of-22 from 19'9”.

The Tornadoes were a bit ragged with the ball, committing 18-turnovers while Thompsonville was also bit careless (22-turnovers) themselves.

Zeigler-Royalton will travel to Johnston City on Friday night and then to Marion Agape Christian on Saturday.

Thompsonville will host Elverado on Saturday.

“24 (Earl) is a special player for them and we went to a zone in the fourth quarter to try and slow him down a bit. We did a better job defensively and rebounding towards the end of the game,” said Coach Smith. “This is a good confidence builder for us. Our conference is really good and we're a young team that's trying to learn. We only have three kids with any varsity experience but they are coming along and some of our seniors are really stepping up.”

Zeigler-Royalton (53) – VanHoorebeke 1 1 0-1 5, West 0 0 0-0 0, Mills 3 1 6-7 15, Gaddis 0 0 0-0 0, Speakman 0 0 0-0 0, Tucker 0 0 0-2 0, Abrahamsen 2 0 1-1 5, Earl 11 0 2-3 24, Holder 0 0 0-0 0, Goodman 0 0 0-0 0, McKinney 2 0 0-2 4. 2FG-19, 3FG-2, FT-9-16, PF-11.
Thompsonville (76) – Rone 12 0 5-7 29, Woodring 0 2 1-3 7, Shelby 7 0 4-5 18, Lindhorst 7 0 2-3 16, Griffin 1 0 0-0 2, Clem 1 0 0-0 2, Mullins 0 0 0-0 0, Peter 1 0 0-0 2, Casteel 0 0 0-0 0, Pond 0 0 0-0 0, Sandy 0 0 0-0 0, Smith 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-29, 3FG-2, FT-11-18, PF-14.
Fouled Out – Lindhorst - Thompsonville.
Technical Fouls – None.