By Gene Nardi
The Royal Palm Beach boys varsity basketball team hosted cross-town rival Palm Beach Central on Friday, Dec. 21 in a non-district match-up, defeating the Broncos 68-51.
The first half of play was a dog fight as both teams scrapped to gain the advantage, but the first period closed with a 15-15 deadlock. The Broncos managed solid, consistent play and closed out the half with a 32-31 lead.
During the second half, the Wildcats were un-caged as they mounted an assault, outscoring Palm Beach Central 14-4 in the third period. Key battles for possession by the Wildcat defense came up big to help push the Royal Palm Beach lead.
The Broncos came to within 9 points, managing to close the gap slightly, but the Wildcats were able to continue to block shots, win rebounds and score an additional 23 points in the fourth period to give them the 68-51 victory.
Top performers were Royal Palm Beach’s Travis Weatherington with four 3-pointers, JoJo Williams with 13 points, and Ivan Rosier scored 11 points. Javiene Betts and Kemar Downer each had 14 points for the Broncos.
Royal Palm Beach will host Santaluces Tuesday, Jan. 8 at 7:30 p.m. Also Jan. 8, Palm Beach Central will host Jupiter at 7:30 p.m.
Above: John St. Paul of the Broncos tries to avoid a block by JoJo Williams.
