Boys Basketball: Teachers' strike forces Zion-Benton to pull out of MLK tourney

Updated: January 11, 2012 9:59PM

The aftershock from the teachers’ strike at Zion-Benton High School continues to be felt by the school’s boys basketball team.

The Zee-Bees were forced to drop out of the MLK Dream Classic tournament at Hononegah scheduled for Saturday and Monday, losing four scheduled games, including contests against Jacobs, Rockford Auburn, and Hononegah.

The reason for pulling out is that next Monday, originally an off day from school to celebrate Martin Luther King’s birthday, is now a school day at Zion.

Also final exams, which were supposed to be held during the four school days lost to the strike, will now be held next week.

Zion-Benton will be adding two nonconference games to its schedule, with one opponent announced as Rockford Jefferson. Currently, Zion-Benton is 7-7 on the season and its next game will be on Jan. 20 against Stevenson. That will be the Zee-Bees’ first home game of the entire season. Zion’s last game was on December 23, 28 days between contests for the squad.

Also denied the opportunity to compete on Monday will be Zion-Benton’s girls bowling team, which was entered in the prestigious Lake Park Invitational, which is held every year on MLK Monday.

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