By Jim Muir
The Benton Middle School Junior Rangers picked up a big road win Tuesday night defeating Herrin 47-40.
The victory, the 10th in a row for Coach John Cook’s squad avenges an early season loss to Herrin and improved the 8th grade team’s overall record to 14-3. The Junior Rangers played Herrin to an 8-8 tie a the end of the first quarter but fell behind 20-19 at the intermission.
“I was a little disappointed at halftime because of the mental mistakes we were making at both ends of the floor,” said Cook. “We has some mis-communications on what defense we were in and we weren’t balancing the floor very well on the offensive end against their 3-2 zone defense.”
Benton pulled even again at the end of three quarters and then road the hot hand of Derek Oxford to outscore Herrin 19-12 in the fourth to pick up the victory. Oxford recorded a double-double with 26 points and 10 rebounds.
“I have been impressed with the character we have shown the past couple of games,” said Cook. “Last week we overcame a 12-point deficit at Carbondale to beat them. And we ground it out at the end to get this win. It is never easy to beat Herrin at their place. Their size really creates some match up problems for us, but we took care of the ball down the stretch and hit some big shots when we needed them most. Also, we went 13-16 from the free throw line for the night which was huge for us.”
Cook said the Junior Rangers have now beaten every team on their schedule except for Marion. Benton will get that chance on Jan. 22 when the two teams meet at Marion.
Along with Oxford’s 26 Benton also got 10 points from Austin Wills while Blane Pankey added four points, Oliver Davis and Gehrig Wynn had three points each and Tyson Houghland had one point.
In the preliminary contest Parker Williams hit the winning 3-pointer to give Benton a 38-35 win over the Herrin 7th grade team.
Williams heroics was the exclamation point on a terrific comeback by Coach Andy Davis’ team which trailed virtually the entire game. Benton trailed 11-2 at the end of the first quarter and trailed 21-10 at halftime. Benton outscored Herrin 12-11 in the third quarter but still trailed by double digits – 32-22 heading to the final frame.
The Benton squad held Herrin to only three points in the third quarter outscoring their hosts 16-3 in the final frame to pull out the exciting victory and improve to 12-3 overall.
Williams led Benton with 14 points followed by Gehrig Wynn with eight points, Hamilton Page with seven points, Brett Bonenberger with six points and 10 rebounds, Bland Pankey with two points and Drew Owens with one point. Mason Wills and Eldon Owens also saw action for Benton.
Both BMS squads are back in action on Thursday, Jan. 17 when Franklin County rival West Frankfort comes to town.
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