Patriots beat Redbirds in Ohio opener

By BRUCE A. FASOL

The Massac County Patriots defeated the West Frankfort Redbirds Friday night. The game was the conference opener for both ball clubs. Once the Patriots ran their lead to double digits, they seemed to draw a line in the sand. Only a few times did the pesky Redbirds cross that line, getting no closer than 4 points.  And, Massac County began drawing that line by first quarter’s end, up 19-10.

The Redbirds were outscored 12-10 in the second quarter, after making some runs at the Patriots. In the second quarter, the Patriots found some holes in the Redbird defense that allowed Devontay Blye to drive to the goal. Autin Kendall hit a shot and got a stick back bucket as well to lengthen the Patriot lead to 31-20 at intermission.

The third quarter turned into a Dalton Mitchell-Braxton Koehl heavyweight match up. Mitchell blistered the nets for 10 points in the third quarter. He sank two three-point shots in the process. Sophomore Koehl, a Redbird starter, added a dozen points in the frame, with two field goals and ten for ten free throw accuracy. But, by quarter’s end, the determined Redbirds still trailed, but by only 10 points,51-41.

Massac County put the game away with a 23-11 scoring advantage over the last eight minutes. Trenton Easley sank a three-point shot as a highlight of the frame for West Frankfort.  The Redbird bench added the only other two field goals, one by Jacob Bartoni and one by Drew Maller.

Scoring for the ‘Birds included: 15 for Koehl, 11 Easley, 9 for Fort, 8 Maller ( who started game for injured Christian Dunning), 6 for Nic Korolenko, 2 Bartoni and 1 point for Evan Keller.

Unofficially, Massac County out-rebounded the home team 28-22. Both teams turned it over 13 times in the game.

With the loss, the Redbirds are now 1-4 for the season. They drop to 0-1 for the Ohio Division play.

The next game for the Redbirds will be a Friday road game at Herrin. The Junior Varsity lost their game 60-27 and remain winless.

Rangers fall to Egyptian in season opener

By JIM MUIR

The Benton Rangers opened the new basketball season on a losing note Tuesday night dropping a 68-59 decision to the Egyptian Pharaohs.

Egyptian rode the one-two punch of Demantae Price and Justin Prewett, who combined for 52 points in the victory in second round action from the first-ever Goreville Invitational Tournament. Prewett had 28 and Price had 24 respectively.

The Rangers fell behind 19-10 after one quarter and trailed by 12 points early in the second quarter before rallying behind the play of Nathaniel Higgins and Daulton Ward to outscore Egyptian 19-12 in the second frame and trail only 31-29 at the half.

Benton actually grabbed the lead early in the third quarter surging ahead 34-33 but fell behind again and trailed 43-41 heading into the final frame.

“I thought we showed some character to come back after falling behind early,” said Benton coach Ron Winemiller. “When we got the lead I thought we were going to be all right but we had a couple of possessions where we shot too quickly and we made a couple of ill-advised passes and then when we fell behind again we just couldn’t bounce back.”

The Rangers entered the game with virtually no varsity experience except for Cole Forby who was a mainstay on last year’s 19-9 regional championship team.

“I thought our inexperience showed some during the game and I really do think this team is going to get much better,” said Winemiller. “That is not coach-speak, I think we have the potential to be a pretty good team as the season rolls on. I really like this team, they have been a great group to work with.”

While Benton was playing in its first game of the season Egyptian, who played in last week’s Christopher Turkey Tournament, was playing game number five, a point not lost on Winemiller.

“I think we had some season opening jitters and they (Egyptian) got off to a great start tonight,,” said Winemiller. “But, I think we settled down in the second quarter.”

Nine players saw action for Benton in the season-opening loss but only four hit the scoring column with three of them going for double figures. Ward led the way with 23 points, followed by Higgins with 20 and Forby with 10. Ethan Hughes also added six points for the Rangers.

In other action last night Goreville, who has established itself as the team to beat in the tournament, walloped Anna-Jonesboro by a score of 81-41. The tournament is idle Wednesday night but resumes on Thursday with a pair of games and also two games each on Friday and Saturday.

Here is the schedule for the remainder of the week:

Thursday

AJ vs. Egyptian 6 p.m.

Johnston City vs. Benton 7:30 p.m.

Friday

Benton vs. AJ 6 p.m.

Goreville vs. Johnston City 7:30 p.m.

Saturday

Egyptian vs. Johnston City 6 p.m.

Benton vs. Goreville 7:30 p.m.

Meridian spoils Redbirds’ season opener

By BRUCE A. FASOL

The Meridian Bobcats rode the 26 points from senior Josh Jones enroute to a 67-43 win over the West Frankfort Redbirds. This was the opening game for coach Dan Dewerff and his Redbird team.

Meridian jumped out to a 15-9  lead after one quarter of play. The Redbirds mounted comebacks but could not get close enough to make the game in doubt. Meridian continued to build their lead in each quarter.

Leading the way for the Redbirds was sophomore Christian Dunning with a dozen points. Seniors Trent Easley and Nick Korolenko were the only other ‘Birds in double figures with 10 points apiece.

The Redbirds stay on the road as they travel to Sesser-Valier Friday night. The home opener is set for Saturday night against Pinckneyville.

Christopher takes third place in Turkey Tourney

By TOM WHEELER

Eric Stallman’s Christopher Bearcats defeated the Thompsonville Tigers 49-39 Saturday night at the 38th Christopher Thanksgiving Tournament. The Bearcats had defeated Wayne City on Monday and lost to the 2012 champions Waltonville on Wednesday while the Tigers defeated Webber Township on Tuesday and lost to the defending champions Egyptian on Friday night.

Strong play from junior guard Jake Towers, whose defense held Thompsonville’s Brady Householder to no field goals and only two free tosses, was a big key in the victory. Householder, started the tournament with 20 points in an opening win and was the “straw” that stirred the young Tiger team. Towers and senior Tyler Atchison led the Cats in scoring with 13 points each , 6-feet-6-inch senior Kevin Mercks had six, senior R.J. Kuh had 3 and junior Eric Young had 7 points while freshman Josh Calloni had 4 points and Hunter Wheeler one free throw.

The Cats jumped to 15-7 first quarter lead behind two baskets from Young and Atchison while the Tigers were having trouble with fouls as leading scorer Ryan Darnell and twin brother Lance each picked up two fouls. Both teams scored 9 each in the second frame and the Cats were up 24-16 at half.

In the third quarter at the 6:12 mark, Young led a fast break and hit Atchison with a nifty pass for a score, Towers stole the ball on the next exchange and  hit Kuh who then fed big Mercks for another great example of the Cats team work. The hosts outscored the Tigers 16-10 in this quarter as Atchison scored 7 and Calloni 4. The Tigers only got 5 shots up in the quarter because they spent so much time at the free throw line where they were 3-for-8.

In fact the free throw line is where both teams spent a large portion of the night and if you happened to go by either high school early in the morning this week there may be some early free throw shooting going on. Thompsonville shot 15-for-30 for the game while the Cats were only 18-for-39 for a 31 percent effort for a combined 69 tosses shot.

Thompsonville was led in scoring by the Darnell’s, Ryan with 14 and the left-handed Lance with 10. Others who scored were

Immediately following the championship game in which Waltonville upset the favorite Egyptian Pharaohs 57-49 the all- tournament team was announced and the Bearcats; Atchison, Mercks and Young were named as were the Tigers’ Ryan Darnell and Householder. Others selected for this honor included J.C. Chapman of Cobden, Jordan Hale and Trey Witges of Waltonville and two named for the  second year Egyptian’s Justin Prewitt and MVP Devantae Price (for the second year).

The Bearcats return to action December 4 when they travel to Elverado for their first Black Diamond Conference game. The Tigers face Elverado Nov. 27 at home.

Benton, West Frankfort, Illinois News | Franklin County News