Rangers Open Play Tonight at the Goreville Tournament

Rangers Open Play Tonight at the Goreville Tournament

Steve Dunford-Franklin County Hoops and Gridiron

The 2016-17 edition of the Benton Rangers will hit the hardwood tonight at 7:00P.M., against the Hamilton County Foxes at the Goreville Invitational Tournament.  The Rangers return three starters from last year’s 26-4 campaign.  They ended their season in the first round of the Class 3A regional against Carbondale.  With an enrollment of 577 they are one of the smallest 3A schools in the state.  They finished second in the Southern Illinois River to River Ohio division to the Carbondale Terriers.

The conference will be loaded again.  Daryl Murphy reloads every year at Murphysboro.  Herrin had a very good week down at the Pyramid Plus going 4-1.  Harrisburg has been bit by the injury bug.  Blake Drue is out for the season with a knee injury.  Two of Massac County’s best scorers last year JT Weber and Noah Farmer did not go out for Basketball.  Kevin Toney has a deep bench and the Redbirds will be much more competitive this year.

Kruz Hayes, Brendan Ritchason and Chase Owens were seniors last year who were main contributors for the Rangers.  Four year starter Derek Oxford will be back for the Rangers.  He has topped the 1,000 point mark for his career.  Also returning is point guard Timmy Henson.  Between time at Thompsonville and Benton he is a four year starter.  Coach Ron Winemiller says you can see him getting some time at other ends of the floor this year.  Also back is 6’ 1”Austin Wills who averaged 11 points a game for the Rangers.

You can expect 6’ 3” Parker Williams to get the call in the starting lineup tonight.  The fifth starter for the Rangers according to Coach Winemiller,  will most likely be either 5’ 10” junior Gehrig Wynn or 5’ 8” Junior Cade Thomas.  Coming off the bench for Benton will be juniors Hamilton Page and Blaine Pankey. This duo had a very successful season in the Benton backfield.  All the juniors mentioned have been a very anticipated group since they played in junior high.  They went 14-1 at the JV level last year.  Coach Winemiller also mentioned 6’ 5” sophomore Brandon Utz getting some time as the years go on.

In tonight’s opener against Hamilton County, the Foxes are coming off of a 4-21 record and they are coached by Jeremy Varner.  Their best player is four year starter Oakley Dial.  Everyone else for HamCo is back and will be much improved from last year.  I expect the Rangers to win by 20 tonight.  The Foxes will play very hard, but do not have the horses to keep up with the Rangers.

Here is the Schedule for the Rangers the rest of the week from Goreville:

Tuesday 11/29 at 5:30 p.m. against Hardin County

Thursday 12/1 at 8:30 p.m. against Anna Jonesboro

Saturday 12/3 at 2:00 p.m. against Johnston City

Saturday 12/3 at 8:30 p.m. against Goreville

Join Jim Muir and Tom Wheeler for all the Ranger games this season on Q106, or streaming on wqrlradio.com.  Tonight’s match up with Hamilton County will be video streamed on FoxesFans.net.