It became painfully obvious very early in Tuesday night’s O-K Gold basketball matchup that South Christian simply couldn’t stop 6-7 Wayland junior center Zack Nieuwkoop.

About the only chance the visiting Sailors had was to find a way to get him to foul out. And Nieuwkoop indeed sat out almost seven minutes of the second quarter, but he still wound up with 30 points and his customary boatload of rebounds, as the Wildcats defeated South Christian 79-59.

Nieuwkoop drew his second foul at the 6:48 mark of the second period and by then already had 13 points. His supporting cast, despite allowing the Sailors to get as close as five points, 30-25, just before the half, held them at bay to take a 35-37 advantage at intermission.

But with Nieuwkoop back in the ballgame and with Avery Hudson, Michael Kelly and Jake Holtz looking for the big guy underneath the hoop with crisp passing, the Wildcats pulled away, leading by more than 20 points the rest of the way.

The victory improved Wayland’s overall season record to 9-1 and their O-K Gold Conference record now is 4-0. The ’Cats will get a good idea about winning the league title when they face Grand Rapids Ottawa Hills at home this Friday evening. Ottawa beat Wayland twice last season and took the league championship. The Bengals are only 5-6 this season, but they’ve played a lot strong Class A competition.

The Wildcats this week continue to be ranked No. 4 in the Associated Press Class B state-wide poll.

Wayland usually has a huge battle with the Sailors on the hardcourt every year, but this one was marked by double-digit gaps throughout more than half the contest. South Christian this year sports a 2-6 record this rebuilding season under new coach Jeff Meengs, who succeeded longtime coach Ken Hiskes.

Kelly dropped in 10 points for the ‘Cats, Austin Johnson had nine on a pair of threes and a three-point play, Hudson had eight and Cody Johnson seven.

Sharpshooting junior guard Eric Dykstra led South with 20 points and teammates Trey Vredevoogd and Ty Brinks had 13 apiece.

South Christian put man-to-man pressure on Hudson outside a zone and it was able to hold him down to just eight points, but the junior point guard was very effective running the offense and getting the ball inside for easy hoops, particularly to Nieuwkoop. It was Nieuwkoop’s fourth straight 20-points plus scoring game and he has been averaging 25 over that span.

PHOTO: Zack Nieuwkoop