By Jim Muir

The Benton Middle School Junior Rangers improved to 8-3 on the season with a 66-33 road victory at Pinckneyville Wednesday night.

Derek Oxford and Austin Wills combined for 44 points in the non-conference win. Oxford narrowly missed a double-double grabbing nine rebounds to go with his game-high 24 points. Oxford also had a two steals and a pair of assists. Wills added 20 points, five rebounds, one steal and two assists to help key the win.

Benton jumped out to a 21-8 first quarter lead and then outscored the Panthers 16-5 in the second frame to cruise to a 37-13 halftime lead. The Junior Rangers continued the onslaught in the third quarter outscoring Pinckneyville 18-4 opening up a 55-17 margin at the end of three quarters.

Also in double figures for BMS was Tyson Houghland who added 10 points and five rebounds. Rounding out the scoring for the Junior Rangers was Parker Williams with five points, Brett Bonenberger with three, Blane Pankey with two and Jordan Richey with one. Oliver Davis and Gehrig Wynn, Hamilton Page, Lance Cockrum, Troy Tillman and Scott Mosely also saw action in the eighth grade contest.

The Junior Rangers also won the seventh grade game handily defeating Pinckneyville by a score of 40-18. The game was relatively close throughout the first two quarter with Benton holding leads of 6-4 at the end of the first quarter and 12-6 at halftime. Benton outscored Pinckneyville 15-8 in the third stanza and opened up a 27-14 lead after three quarter and then put the game on ice in the fourth by outscoring the Panthers 13-4 to come away with the convincing win. The win improves the BMS seventh grade team to 8-1 overall.

Brett Bonenberger, Gehrig Wynn and Drew Owens each tallied eight points for Benton. Bonenberger also added seven rebounds and one assist and one steal in the win. Rounding out the scoring for the seventh grade squad was Hamilton Page who had five points to go along with six rebounds, two steals and three assists. Blane Pankey add four points, Eldon Owens, two points and Avery Potter two points. Also seeing action for Benton was Mason Wills, Parker McGuire, Robbie Moore, Ethan Kreiger, Branden Luster, Peyton Mosely, Braxton Lutz, Logan Darr, Jordan Bowlin and Triston Summers.

Both teams are back in action on Tuesday, Dec. 11 when they travel to Du Quoin. The seventh grade game begins at 5:30 p.m.