Christian Cummings plays through pain; Rockford Christian wins at Byron
BYRON, Ill. (WTVO/WQRF) — It was a good night and a scary night for Rockford Christian's basketball team and their fans. The Royal Lions won a key Big Northern Conference game at Byron, but they also saw one of their star players go down with an injury.Senior guard Christian Cummings went down hard on a collision under the basket while driving to the hoop. He landed hard on his right hand, and he was in extreme pain. After a delay of a couple minutes Cummings walked off the court, and he was tended to by a trainer.At the time of the injury, Cummings had 22 points and Rockford Christian led by eight with 4:51 remaining in the game. Cummings returned a couple minutes later. Flexing his right hand, he not only played through the pain, he scored another basket on a driving layup. He then assisted on a game-clinching basket by Chase Longley.Cummings told me after that game how his hand was feeling.
'Yeah, I'm in pain, but it comes down to it we finished through it. I mean, it's, it's hurting me right now, but we've battled through.'
With the Royal Lions battling for a Big Northern Conference championship and a high seed in postseason play, Cummings told me he just had to return to the game.
'Man, it means a lot, man. Going into regionals, the seeding and everything, we want to be here. We wanted to have the top seed going into the regional. So, it means a lot. Just coming back in, I just want to be a motivation to my team that no matter what I'm about through, we all get better through this together.'Rockford Christian won 59-48 to improve to 23-2 overall and 7-0 in the Big Northern Conference. That clinches at least a tie for the Big Northern Championship for the Royal Lions because they have a two game lead with only two conference games remaining. Those games are at Winnebago this Friday and at Rockford Lutheran the following Friday.For highlights, watch the media player above.
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