FZN Boys Basketball open conference play with a victory!

The FZN boys basketball team opened the conference portion of the their season with a 42 - 38 victory over Washington. With the victory, the Panthers now stand at 4 - 4 (1 - 0 conference) on the season. Against Washington, the Panthers led from start to finish, although the Blue Jays did trim the Panther lead to just 1 point in the 4th quarter. The Panthers were led by KJ Lee (14 points - 7 rebounds), Grant Rapplean (8 points), Jeff Lewis (8 points), Mujtaba "Moosh" Alkhaldi (6 points - 7 rebounds - 4 blocks), and Grant Fitzpatrick (5 points).

Prior to the Washington game the Panthers had notched a regular season victory over highly regarded Troy and picked up two victories on their way to a 3rd place finish at the Borgia Turkey Tournament. The Panther defense has been particularly tough this season only one opponent (Normandy in a 69 - 64 Panther victory) has put up more than 50 on the Panthers this season. Coach Mike Uffmann credited the improved Panther defense to, "switching to a man-to-man defense". He went on the say, "This is an unselfish group that loves to take charges. The charge leaders are Ronald Cross and Kamden Bynum".

For the season, the Panthers have been led in scoring by: Grant Rapplean (11 ppg.), Mujtaba "Moosh" Alkhaldi (10 ppg.), KJ Lee (8 ppg.), and Kyle Bampton (8 ppg.). The Panthers have also seen good production out of Ronald Cross, Jeff Lewis, Kamden Bynum, Grant Fitzpatrick, Cerry Watson, Sean Grimes, Cole Riggleman, and Cario Payne.

The Panthers will play at rival Fort Zumwalt South this Friday (12/21) before the Christmas holiday. Tip-off at South is scheduled for 7:00 pm. Following the the winter break the Panthers will play in the Rotating 8 Tournament to be held at Whitfield the week of January 7 - 11.