It was far from their best game shooting the ball, but the Trico Pioneers found a way to win Tuesday night over Zeigler-Royalton 54-26 using their defense and inside scoring.
“It wasn’t real pretty, but we took care of business,” said Trico coach Shane Hawkins. “That’s what you have to do at home in conference play, and we are still in the hunt for a conference championship.”
The Pioneers couldn’t seem to buy a basket from long range, finishing with just one made three-pointer, which came nearly midway through the fourth quarter. But Trico overcame a sluggish start to take advantage of its size and controled the game on the defensive end.
“We weren’t bad offensively, we just couldn’t make a shot,” said Hawkins. “We got good looks and took good shots, but they just weren’t falling for us. You are going to have games like this. The team kept battling and worked even harder on the defensive end. We used our size to win on the defensive end. We really made them earn all their baskets tonight.”
Trico scored the first six points of the game and never trailed. However, the Pioneers were just 5-of-17 in the opening quarter and held a slight 12-7 lead at the end of the period. Daron Meyerhoff led Trico with six points, while Chase Heins set the tone defensively with three blocks in the opening frame.
With the outside shot not falling, Trico turned its focus on its size advantage and pounded the ball down low. The move paid off as the Pioneers outscored Zeigler-Royalton 18-5 in the second quarter, with all 18 points coming from inside the lane. Heins  and Meyerhoff each had six points in the quarter, ands their team led 30-12 at halftime.
The Tornadoes were just 2-of-9 from the field with five turnovers in the second quarter.
Trico continued its inside scoring dominance in the third quarter, outscoring Z-R 14-6, with 12 of those 14 points coming from inside the paint. The Pioneers held a comfortable 44-18 lead heading into the fourth.
Trico coasted in the fourth quarter to ice the 28-point win to improve to 8-1 overall and 3-0 in the Black Diamond West, tied with Sesser-Valier for first.
Meyerhoff finished with 16 points, while Heins added 12 and Dylan Witthoft seven.
Trico will look to defend its Carbondale Holiday Tournament title next week before playing three key conference games to kickoff the new year. The Pioneers will host Christopher January 3 and Goreville January 6 before heading off for a showdown against Sesser-Valier January 7.
“We can’t look ahead, we have to take it one game at a time,” said Hawkins.