Fueling the fire
Brothers Taylor and Tyler Zentner live on Millionaire Street in Mott.By: Royal McGregor, The Dickinson Press
- Taylor Zentner
- Tyler Zentner
Brothers Taylor and Tyler Zentner live on Millionaire Street in Mott.
They’ve been worth every penny to the Mott-Regent boys basketball team.
The Zentners average a combined 35.6 of the team’s 64.6 points per game and have led the Wildfire to an 11-4 overall record and the spot atop the District 13 standings.
“When those guys work together as brothers, we’re a very a good team,” Mott-Regent head coach Wayne Heckaman said. “When that has happened, we’ve had some good outcomes on some good teams.”
Taylor, who leads Region 7 with 21.7 points per game, is a 6-foot-2 senior guard. Tyler is a 6-3 junior guard averaging 13.9 points.
“I look up to him a lot and he makes a lot of good plays,” Tyler said. “He’s taught me quite a bit. I try to be like him, because he’s a real good player.”
During football season, Mott-Regent head coach Ron Benson said the Zentner boys are always outside. Heckaman firmly agrees with that statement.
“They are always outside throwing the football, shooting the basketball or pitching to each other,” Heckaman said. “When you drive down their street, they are always doing something together.”
In game-type situations, Taylor and Tyler both said it’s no different than playing in their yard. All that’s different is that they’re going to get a mark in the win or loss column.
“It’s pretty much the same,” Taylor said. “It’s a lot fun.
“We know how each other is going to play on and off the court,” Tyler added. “There’s really no difference.”
Nonetheless, Taylor wants to hand down some of game-time experiences to Tyler.
“It’s definitely a learning experience for him,” Taylor said. “I’ve been through a lot more situations and I can kind of tell him things I’ve learned through the years.”
The two not only work well together on the basketball court, but were the key offensive components to the Wildfire football team last fall.
Taylor, the quarterback, went 115 of 211 for 1,919 yards and 21 touchdowns. Seven of those touchdowns went to Tyler, a wide receiver who had 45 catches for 1,009 yards. Tyler also threw one TD to Taylor for 65 yards.
This winter, the Zentners are at the forefront of Mott-Regent’s current seven-game win streak.
Today, the Wildfire have their toughest matchup of the season at 7 p.m. when they host No. 3-ranked Dickinson Trinity at the Mott National Guard Armory.
“I think we’ve been doing really well, but I don’t think we’ve reached our full potential,” Taylor said. “We have much more to prove to everyone.”
Mott-Regent most recent District 13 win was 64-50 against Hettinger-Scranton on Tuesday, while the team’s lone loss in district play was 51-42 against New England on Jan. 8. The Wildfire lead District 13 after a 68-58 win over Heart River on Jan. 15.
Mott-Regent’s remaining District 13 game is against Bowman County at 7 p.m. next Tuesday.
“We have a lot of confidence beating Hazen and a lot of good teams in our district,” Tyler said. “It’s brought a lot of confidence to our team.”
Despite leading District 13, Heckaman knows his team has to shore up a couple areas before the district and region tournaments. One glaring area has been turnovers, he said.
“We are averaging 20 plus turnovers a game, that’s one thing we can do better on,” Heckaman said. “There are a lot of things that we can still improve on.”
Tags: high school basketball, mott-regent wildfire, taylor zentner, tyler zentner, sports, basketball
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