By DOUG DONNELLY

When Emmanuel Christian’s Jerry Easter scored 41 points last week against the Whiteford, he joined a select list of players to score 40 or more points in a game against the Bobcats.

Easter, a freshman rated as the No. 1 player in the country in his class by at least one national recruiting service, is just the fifth player ever to score at last 40 points in a game against Whiteford. One player, Lyn Fisher of Summerfield, did it twice. Here’s the list:

Points	Player, Team (Date)
51	Mark Vollmar, Erie Mason (2-19-71)
44	Lyn Fisher, Summerfield (12-13-64)
43	Bryce Windham, SMCC (3-9-2015)
42	Tom Hayden, Sylvania Metamora (1-6-59)
41	Jerry Easter, Emmanuel Christian, 12-27-01)
40	Lyn Fisher, Summerfield (3-7-64)

Easter is just one of several outstanding high school basketball players to have participated against the Whiteford Bobcats over the years, several who went on to play Division 1 college basketball and some who went on to become a professional athlete.

In 2014, the Bobcats played Detroit Consortium in the Class C Regional championship game. Consortium went on to win a state championship that season and was led by Josh Jackson, a 6-8 forward. Jackson would go on to play at the University of Kansas and was the No. 4 overall pick of the 2017 NBA Draft. He now plays for the Detroit Pistons.

Duane Below played against Whiteford in multiple sports in the 1990s, including basketball. He went on to play Major League Baseball with the Detroit Tigers. Bryce Windham set a Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central scoring record against Whiteford when he scored 43 points in a 2015 district game. After four years of college baseball at Old Dominion University, he is now plays in the Chicago Cubs organization.

In the 1960s, Phil Benedict was a star at Britton Macon High School, leading the Tories to back-to-back state championships in 1963 and 1964. He got a scholarship to play at Duke, then later finished his college playing days at Bowling Green State University.

Ida’s Garry Anderson played at the University of Toledo. Easter’s current head coach, Lionel Armstead at Emmanuel Christian, played for the Warriors in high school and later at West Virginia University. Erie Mason’s Joey Liedel played at the University of Detroit-Mercy. Addison’s Luke Meyer played at Central Michigan University and professionally overseas.

Jeff Warren scored 34 for his Litchfield Terriers in a big Class D Regional game in 1988. Warren went on to play four years at the University of Missouri, starting for most of the time, including when the Tigers were No. 1 in the nation.