By Jim Muir

The Benton Middle School Junior Rangers seventh and eighth grade teams completed the 2012 portion of their schedule Wednesday night with a pair of victories over Hamilton County.

The BMS eighth grade team improved to 11-3 overall with a solid 48-29 victory over the Foxes. The Junior Rangers were never headed in the contest jumping out to an 18-5 first quarter lead and then extended the margin to 30-11 at the intermission.

BMS coach John Cook said one of the keys to the victory was the match up problems that Benton’s Derek Oxford creates with his inside-outside scoring prowess.

“Last night’s game was a great example of the match up problems that Derek creates,” Cook said. “Hamilton County goes 6-feet-4 and 6-feeet1 inside with their bigs, but they were reluctant to send either of them out to the perimeter to guard Derek. He recognized the mismatch with the smaller guy guarding him and took his game inside for a majority of the night.”

That strategy paid off smartly for Benton as Oxford led the team in scoring with 24 points to go along with five rebounds and two assists.

But Cook pointed out that one of the strengths for his team is the unselfishness and the role play of the entire team.

“Austin Wills didn’t have his best night shooting the ball but he and Tyson Houghland combined for 16 points and 15 board,” said Cook. “And that shows that they can contribute and help this team in many other ways.”

Cook called the victory over Hamilton County “a true team effort.”

“We received big minutes from Blane Pankey and Jordan Richey as they battled much bigger guys on the post all night,” said Cook. “And Oliver Davis and Gehrig Wynn did a great job of protecting the ball and distributing, while doing a great job of guarding their shooters on the perimeter.”

Following Oxford’s game leading 24 points the Rangers also got 10 points and eight rebounds from Wills and six points and seven rebounds from Houghland. Also helping in the win was Pankey with six and Wynn with 2. Also seeing action for Benton was Davis, Hamilton Page, Richey, Lance Cockrum, Scott Mosely, Brett Bonenberger, Parker Williams, Troy Tillman and Jourdan Garbo.

Cook said the road victory against Hamilton County was a nice way to head the the Christmas break.

“With each game we play we become less and less of a one or two-dimensional team,” Cook said. “I think other teams are starting to take notice.”

In the seventh grade contest BMS jumped out to a quick 16-9 first quarter lead and then put the game away in the second stanza outscoring the host Foxes 21-3 to take a commanding 37-12 lead at halftime. Every Benton player saw action in the second half as the seventh grade squad cruised to the 57-20 victory.

Balanced scoring was the theme for Coach Andy Davis’ team as four players scored in double figures with Hamilton Page leading the way with 12 points, followed closely by Parker Williams with 11, and Gehrig Wynn and Brett Bonenberger with 10 each. Barely missing double figures was Blane Pankey with eight points. Rounding out the scoring for Benton was Drew Owens with four points and Avery Potter with two. Also seeing action for Benton was Mason Wills, Eldon Owens, Parker McGuire, Triston Summers, Ethan Kreiger, Jordan Bowlin, Joey Craig, Robbie Moore, Braxton Lutz, Branden Luster, Peyton Mosely and Logan Darr.

Both BMS squads are idle through the holidays and will return to action on Jan. 3 when they host the Christopher Junior Bearcats.