T.C. Central at Mt. Pleasant

Mt. Pleasant- Trey Zeigler continues to be the man in “Oiler Country” and was his usual self as he produced plenty of points for his Mt. Pleasant team in a 73-45 thumping over Traverse City Central on Tuesday night.  The only thing different was the way “Zigs” produced those points, and while the junior star doesn’t have any problems filling it up night after night, he didn’t produce points by putting the ball in the hoop himself.  On this night he ran the point and did exactly what a PG is suppose to do- put his teammates in a position to score.

Zeigler opened the game with consecutive assists and his steal and dunk followed by two more assists keyed an Oiler 15-0 run.  Joshua Rathje’s 3-pointer capped the run and gave the Oilers a 17-6 lead with 3:48 left in the first quarter.  6-4 junior Blake Higgins got hot to end the half and scored Mt. Pleasant’s final 10 points to help give the Oilers a 37-19 lead at the half.

Central cut the lead to 43-30 on a Doug Burke basket but Zeigler answered back with his own 5-0 run to go back up 48-30 with 2:58 left in the third.  Central again trimmed the lead to 54-40 early in the fourth quarter, but this time Zeigler buried Central with an “and 1″ play and a steal and highlight real dunk to spark a 12-0 run.

BREAKDOWN: The truth of the matter is, even though the Oilers shot extremely well, that T.C. Central isn’t a very good ball club.  They lack guard play and the type of player that can produce his own shots.

Mount Pleasant is turning into more than just “Trey Zeigler”.  If teams continue to double and triple team Zigs, like Central did, Zigs will continue to find open shots for his teammates.

PLAYER OF GAME: Trey Zeigler, MP- Trey finished with 14 points but it was the rest of his stats that impressed me- 10 assist, 8 rebounds, 4 steals, and 3 blocks.  He concentrated on running the point and feeding his teammates but whenever a basket was needed, Zigs took over and made one.  Zigs sat most of the second half, but reentered both times Central got close, just to increase the lead.

NOTABLE PERFORMANCES

Blake Higgins, Oilers- finished with 10 points, all coming on wide open midrange shots, in the final minutes of the second quarter.    

Josh Rathje, Oilers- the six foot junior has a nice release and can stroke it from deep, connected on five 3-pointers as he finished with 15 points.