By Jim Muir
Derek Oxford and Austin Wills combined for 43 points and the Benton Middle School 8th grade boy’s basketball team rolled to its 11th straight win Thursday night, a 62-31 drubbing of cross-county rival West Frankfort.
The Junior Rangers jumped to an 18-7 first quarter lead and upped the advantage to 37-19 at halftime. Still, BMS coach John Cook was not overly satisfied with his team’s play.
“Despite what the scoreboard said we weren’t happy with how we played, especially on the defensive end,” said Cook. “We picked up some silly fouls from not being in our help positions and from trying to block shots. That’s not the type of team we are, that needs to improve.”
Oxford tallied 28 points to go along with nine rebounds with Wills getting 15 points and four assists. Tyson Houghland also notched double figures with 12 points and eight rebounds.
After some halftime adjustments Cook said he was pleased with this team’s second half play.
“The second half was much better in terms of playing a tight solid defense and checking off the glass,” he said. “We had some nice possessions on offense where we got pints off of our execution rather than off one pass and a shot.”
Despite winning 11 straight and improving to 15-3 overall Cook said he and his players were not “totally satisfied” with the win.
“We won so I am not disappointed and 10 games ago I would have probably been thrilled with a win like this,” said Cook. “But, I don’t think anyone on our side was satisfied tonight, which is a good thing. For us it’s not always about the scoreboard. Our goal is to get better every game, we like that approach.”
Rounding out the scoring for Benton, Brett Bonenberger had three points, Parker Williams scored two points and Gehrig win had one point. Also seeing action in the game was Oliver Davis, Blane Pankey, Scott Mosely, Jordan Richey, Hamilton Page, Troy Tillman and Jourdan Garbo.
In the preliminary contest Blane Pankey led the way for Benton with 10 points as the BMS 7th grade squad improved to 12-4 with a 40-24 victory over West Frankfort.
The 7th grade squad, coached by Andy Davis, rolled out to a 10-4 first quarter score and then put the game away in the second frame by outscoring the Redbirds 15-1 to open up a 25-5 halftime advantage.
Hamilton Page narrowly missed double figures with 9 points and he was followed by Brett Bonenberger with seven points, Gehrig Wynn with six points, Parker Williams with four points and Mason Wills and Drew Owens with two points each. Also seeing action for Benton was Eldon Owens, Joey Craig, Parker McGuire, Triston Summers, Robbie Moore, Braxton Lutz, Ethan Kreiger, Avery Potter, Branden Luster, Peyton Mosley, Logan Darr and Jordan Bowlin.
Both BMS squads are back in action on Tuesday Jan. 22 when they travel to Marion.
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