By Jim Muir

The Benton Middle School Junior Rangers picked up a big road win Tuesday night defeating Herrin 47-40.

The victory, the 10^th in a row for Coach John Cook’s squad avenges an early season loss to Herrin and improved the 8^th grade team’s overall record to 14-3. The Junior Rangers played Herrin to an 8-8 tie a the end of the first quarter but fell behind 20-19 at the intermission.

“I was a little disappointed at halftime because of the mental mistakes we were making at both ends of the floor,” said Cook. “We has some mis-communications on what defense we were in and we weren’t balancing the floor very well on the offensive end against their 3-2 zone defense.”

Benton pulled even again at the end of three quarters and then road the hot hand of Derek Oxford to outscore Herrin 19-12 in the fourth to pick up the victory. Oxford recorded a double-double with 26 points and 10 rebounds.

“I have been impressed with the character we have shown the past couple of games,” said Cook. “Last week we overcame a 12-point deficit at Carbondale to beat them. And we ground it out at the end to get this win. It is never easy to beat Herrin at their place. Their size really creates some match up problems for us, but we took care of the ball down the stretch and hit some big shots when we needed them most. Also, we went 13-16 from the free throw line for the night which was huge for us.”

Cook said the Junior Rangers have now beaten every team on their schedule except for Marion. Benton will get that chance on Jan. 22 when the two teams meet at Marion.

Along with Oxford’s 26 Benton also got 10 points from Austin Wills while Blane Pankey added four points, Oliver Davis and Gehrig Wynn had three points each and Tyson Houghland had one point.

In the preliminary contest Parker Williams hit the winning 3-pointer to give Benton a 38-35 win over the Herrin 7^th grade team.

Williams heroics was the exclamation point on a terrific comeback by Coach Andy Davis’ team which trailed virtually the entire game. Benton trailed 11-2 at the end of the first quarter and trailed 21-10 at halftime. Benton outscored Herrin 12-11 in the third quarter but still trailed by double digits – 32-22 heading to the final frame.

The Benton squad held Herrin to only three points in the third quarter outscoring their hosts 16-3 in the final frame to pull out the exciting victory and improve to 12-3 overall.

Williams led Benton with 14 points followed by Gehrig Wynn with eight points, Hamilton Page with seven points, Brett Bonenberger with six points and 10 rebounds, Bland Pankey with two points and Drew Owens with one point. Mason Wills and Eldon Owens also saw action for Benton.

Both BMS squads are back in action on Thursday, Jan. 17 when Franklin County rival West Frankfort comes to town.

By Jim Muir

Derek Oxford scored 28 points and the Benton Middle School Junior Rangers overcame a 12-point first quarter deficit en route to a gutsy 58-41 road victory Thursday night against always-tough Carbondale.

“Last night was the slowest start we have had all year and on top of that Carbondale is very athletic and their ball-defense created a lot of problems for us early,” said BMS coach John Cook. “Before we knew it we were down 13-1 and we hadn’t even gotten into our offense yet.”

The 8^th grade squad closed the first quarter strong but still trailed 20-10 at the end of the first stanza. It was all Benton in the second frame as the Junior Rangers outscored Carbondale 20-8 to to turn the 10-point first quarter deficit into a 30-28 halftime lead.

Cook said Oxford, who has started on the 8^th grade team since he was in sixth grade, “took the game over” when his team fell behind early.

“Derek really put us on his back in the first half,” said Cook. “We went to a straight motion offense and set a lot of high ball screens in order to free up our guards and relieve them of some of that pressure. We did a great job of keeping the floor balanced and really attacking the goal.”

While Oxford tallied 28 and barely missed a double-double with nine rebounds Cook said it was a “real team effort” that secured the road win.

“We had a pretty good idea of what Carbondale was doing offensively in the second and half and we held them to only 13 points,” said Cook. “Austin Wills really handled the ball well and Tyson Houghland had his biggest night of the season. We played excellent team defense and got a lot of good minutes from Oliver Davis, Gehrig Wynn, Blane Pankey and Jordan Richey.”

Houghland netted 18 – his high mark of the season – to go with six rebounds. Also scoring for Benton was Pankey with seven points and two rebounds, Wills with three points and two rebounds and Oliver Davis with two points and three rebounds. Also seeing action for Benton was Wynn and Richey.

The Junior Rangers shot 48 percent from the field (19-39) and hit 5-13 three-pointers with Oxford hitting four shots from beyond the arc. The Junior Rangers also shot 15-20 from the charity stripe for 75 percent.

The win improves the BMS 8^th grade team’s overall record to 13-3.

In the 7^th grade contest Carbondale broke open a close game with a big third quarter to take a 42-21 victory over the BMS squad.

Benton trailed 9-7 after one quarter and both teams scored 10 points in the second frame as Carbondale maintained a two-point lead at 19-17. Benton managed only four points in the second half and was outscored 10-2 in the third quarter and 13-2 in the final frame. The loss drops the 7^th grade record to a still impressive 10-3 with two of the losses coming against Carbondale.

Hamilton Page, Gehrig Wynn and Eldon Owens led Benton in scoring with five points each followed by Brett Bonenberger with four points and Parker Williams with two points. Also seeing action for Benton was Blane Pankey, Drew Owens, Joey Craig, Mason Wills, Parker McGuire, Triston Summers, Robbie Moore, Braton Lutz, Ethan Kreiger, Peyton Mosely, Branden Luster and Jordan Bowlin.

Both BMS teams are back in action on Tuesday, Jan. 15 when they travel to Herrin. The game that was scheduled for Jan. 14 has been moved to Jan. 28 and that will also be 8^th Grade Night.