By Jim Muir
Derek Oxford hit a rebound basket at the buzzer to propel the Benton Middle School Junior Rangers to a thrilling 42-40 victory over an upset-minded Olney team Saturday afternoon at jam-packed James Waugh Gymnasium at Rend Lake College.
With the score tied 40-40 and only 14 seconds remaining in the game Benton coach John Cook called a time out and set up a final play designed to get sharp-shooting Austin Wills spotted up for a shot. Following the time out the final frantic seconds ticked down as Wills launched a jumper from the top of the circle with :04 seconds remaining that lipped-off the rim. Oxford fought for the rebound and got the shot off as the buzzer sounded sending the large maroon and white contingent on hand into a jubilant celebration and the Junior Rangers to the Class L Final Four.
Benton will square off against a tall and athletic Centralia team in semi-final action on Tuesday night at 7:15 at Rend Lake College.
An emotional Cook said following the game that his team fought through adversity, particularly in the fourth quarter to secure the victory.
“It wasn’t pretty down the stretch, but we found a way to get the job done,” said Cook. “It was a crazy environment and nothing seemed to be going our way in the fourth quarter but we hung tough and remained poised. At this point of the season it doesn’t matter what it looks like – a win is a win and we are happy to be playing for another week.”
Both teams played even to a 8-8 score at the end of one quarter but Benton eased ahead in the second stanza outscoring Olney 14-7 to take a 22-15 halftime lead. Both teams again played even during the third with Benton maintaining a seven point lead at 33-26. The Junior Rangers put together a 7-4 run in the opening minutes of the final quarter to open up the biggest lead of the game at 40-30 and appeared to have Olney on the ropes. But some key three-point shooting coupled with a pair of Benton turnovers propelled Olney on a 10-0 run and a 40-40 tie.
“Once we got up 10 points I really thought we had a chance to put them away,” said Cook. “We were only 11-21 from the free throw line and I think that is where we let them hang around. Typically we are a much better shooting team than that. I thought for three quarters we played pretty well, despite not shooting the ball like we are capable. Our defense and rebounding was excellent, especially in the first half.”
Oxford led the Junior Rangers in scoring with 22 points to go with seven rebounds, three steals and two assists. Also in the scoring column for Benton was Wills with six points and four rebounds, Tyson Houghland with four points and six rebounds, Blane Pankey with three points and four rebounds, Gehrig Wynn with three points and Hamilton Page with three points and three rebounds. Also seeing action for Benton was Brett Bonenberger, Oliver Davis and Scott Mosely.
Cook gave high marks to the undersized but scrappy Olney team.
“Olney is an excellent basketball team,” said Cook. “They are very fundamental, they can shoot, they take good care of the basketball and they deserve a lot of credit for how they competed. Despite being undersized that might be the best guard play we’ve seen all year.”
In the upper bracket game on Tuesday undefeated Marion will face Herrin in the game prior to the Benton-Centralia match up. The winners will meet Thursday at 7:30 in the Class L state title game with Tuesday’s losing teams squaring off in the third place game at 6 p.m.
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