Twenty was the magic number for both Cullman High school basketball teams on Friday night at Brooks.

Both Bearcat squads earned their 20th victories of the season with impressive showings on the road.

The Cullman boys knocked off Brooks 60-40 to improve their season mark to 20-9, while the Lady Bearcats (20-7) notched a 47-35 triumph.

Cullman travels to Florence this afternoon with tip-off set for 2 p.m.

– Cullman 60, Brooks 40 (boys): Cullman point guard Jesse Bouldin continued his impressive play with 18 points on the night, while drilling a quartet of 3-pointers.

“Jesse has been playing his best basketball the last two weeks in big games,” said Cullman coach Mike Dean. “He has stepped up his game and taken the backcourt on his shoulders.”

The Bearcats led 27-20 at intermission, but outscored their opponents 33-20 over the final 16 minutes to secure the big win, thanks to a fine showing from the bench.

All but two Cullman players scored points with Zeb Smith and Raymond Segura notching seven and six, respectively, off the bench.

“I’m proud of the way our bench played tonight,” Dean said. “It was a good team effort tonight with all but two guys scoring.”

Cullman’s Dylan Smith scored 12 points, while Carson Williams with four, Josh Knight with four, Jacob Dellinger with four, Joseph Goodwin with three and Kyle McSwain with two finished out the scoring.

For the game, Cullman shot 26-of-34 from the field.

“This is most definitely what you want to see heading into the area tournament,” added Dean. “We shot great tonight and did it on the road.”

While Dean was definitely proud of Friday night’s victory, he was even more proud of his team reaching a big goal.

“Winning 20 games is definitely a benchmark for our team,” noted Dean. “It is a goal that you look to hit.”

– Cullman 47, Brooks 35 (girls): Minus star guard Caroline Weatherly for another game due to an ankle injury, Erin Meriwether stepped up her play and helped the Lady Bearcats win their 20th game.

Meriwether led Cullman in scoring with 17 points.

“Erin was definitely a spark for us tonight in the first and third quarter,” said Cullman coach Marc Ponder. “We decided to hold Caroline out again and rest her ankle.”

Elizabeth Rowe added 14 points for Cullman, while Andrea Mason with nine, Abbay King with three, Caroline McDaniel with two and Caley Whittemore with two rounded out the scoring.

Cullman led 20-16 at intermission.

“I’m pretty happy with our performance tonight,” said Ponder. “We didn’t shoot the ball well tonight, but had great looks that just didn’t fall. We made up for that with our defensive effort.”