01-15-07
BY JACK BULLOCK
BENTON - Have you ever seen a team commit 24 turnovers in a game and still come out victorious?

Meet the Cairo Pilots – who on Monday night in the opening round of the Benton Invitational Tournament – held off the host Rangers 69-66 in a game that featured 41 total miscues.

Coach Dion Real saw his team use its size advantage to hold an impressive 42-17 rebounding edge that more than made up for its problems holding on to the ball.

Behind 23 points from reserve forward Kenny Tucker and 17 points from Jeserick Pilgrim, the Pilots improved to 5-9 on the season and are 1-0 in the round-robin tourney.

The Rangers had chances late in the contest to get back even with the Pilots but three missed shots in the final minute and crucial turnover on Benton’s final possession allowed Cairo to escape with the victory.

After Cairo’s Pilgrim missed both of his free throws with :04.3 remaining, Benton’s Sayler Shurtz dribbled the ball out of bounds near midcourt with under a second left. Cairo in bounded the ball to center Russell Mackins as time expired.

This night belonged to the Pilots on the boards.

“Give Cairo credit, they came out and played hard and did what they needed to do to get the win tonight,” said Benton head coach Matt Wynn. “I’m very disappointed and I know that the kids are disappointed. They have four basketball games left this week and we talked about if you get your dauber down on Monday its going to be a long week. Its disappointing because I think we had a great chance to win the game but it didn’t happen.”

The Rangers wasted a 16-point effort from Trevor Myers and 14 points from Ryan Sanders in the loss. Casey Ainslie added 13 for Benton who saw its record dip to 7-10, 0-1 in the BIT.

The first half featured 12 lead changes but the trend of mistakes loomed large in the first quarter as the teams matched each other with six turnovers apiece.

Benton closed the first period with a 7-3 run to lead at the first horn 12-10.

The Rangers scored three baskets on fast break chances. With Cairo pressing and overplaying on both ends, Benton’s transition game produced scores by Myers, Shurtz and Tim Corn.

Bryson Potts closed the frame with a nice baseline drive with :20 remaining.

Cairo put together a sequence that got them a seven-point lead at intermission.

The Pilots outscored its rival 13-2 in the final 3:25 of the half.

Tucker scored six of those points in close to the basket. Tucker – a 6-foot-2 senior who plays much bigger than that – scored twice on offensive rebounds in that stretch.

He also got a late bucket on a pass from Danny Brown to make it 28-23 with just :13 remaining.

Cairo’s Rodney Woodson caught the Rangers of guard when he stole the in bounds pass after the Tucker score. He swooped to the basket for a quick basket that ended the scoring at 30-23.
Things didn’t look good for Coach Matt Wynn’s club when the third quarter began.

Eight unanswered points from the Pilots gave Cairo its largest lead at 38-23.

A rebound basket by Charles Johnson; a 3-pointer from the right wing by Pilgrim and a conventional three-point play from Mackins ended the run. Benton’s Ainslie picked up his fourth foul on the Mackins score and went to the bench with 5:36 remaining.

However the Ranger refused to go away as they closed the gap to just six points at the end of the third.

Myers scored seven points in the final 3:56 which included a 3-pointer from the left corner that bounced high off the back rim and fell through to cut the lead to 40-30.

He later scored on a drive to the basket and on a mid-range 17-footer from the right wing.

Benton reserve center Zach La Buwi and Ryan Sanders closed the stanza with points. La Buwi scored a transition basket and Sanders got loose on the right blocks for a bucket to send the teams to the benches at 46-40 Cairo.

Cairo allowed the Rangers back in the contest by committing nine third quarter turnovers.

Benton rallied to take a brief lead by out gunning the Pilots 16-9 to take a 56-55 lead with 3:59 remaining on a three-point play by Ainslie while being fouled by Pilgrim.

Cairo responded to take the lead back for good with Brown scoring on a steal and fast break lay in followed by another offensive rebound for a score by Mackins.

Two scores from Tucker and a basket by Pilgrim gave the Pilots a 67-60 cushion.

In spite of missing four of their final six free throw attempts in the closing moments, Cairo held on for the victory in Coach Real’s first trip to the BIT.

Both teams shot the ball pretty well but it was Cairo that got the win because of the huge rebounding margin.

The Pilots were 28-of-53 overall (53 percent) while attempting just three 3-pointers with Pilgrim hitting the only trifecta.

Benton hit for 27-of-55 (49 percent) and 4-of-14 from behind the arc.

The Rangers had another problem – they hit just 8-of-17 from the foul line.

But the key column was rebounding – more importantly the 16 Cairo offensive rebounds.

Of those rebounds, eight of them turned into put backs for 16 points.

“We have to play good fundamental defense to be competitive and I was disappointed in our rebounding effort,” added Wynn. “It is something that we work on in practice but we are going to have to get better at it. We have to get ready for Wednesday night and Carlyle.”

The Pilots get back into action on Wednesday night with a game against Black Diamond Conference East Division rival Hamilton County at 7:30 pm while Benton will play Carlyle at 9:00 pm.

Benton (66) - S. Shurtz 3 0 2-3 8, Sanders 5 0 4-5 14, Myers 5 2 0-2 16, Ainslie 3 2 1-3 13, Nolen 2 0 0-2 4, LaBuwi 2 0 0-0 4, N. Shurtz 0 0 0-0 0, Potts 2 0 1-2 5, Corn 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-23, 3FG-4, FT-8-17, PF-18.
Cairo (69) - Brown 2 0 0-0 4, Lemmons 1 0 0-0 2, Woodson 1 0 0-2 2, Johnson 2 0 1-2 3, Mackins 6 0 1-1 13, Wright 0 0 1-2 1, Ivy 0 0 0-0 0, Pilgrim 4 1 6-10 17, Williams 1 0 0-0 2, Tucker 10 0 3-4 23.
2FG-27, 3FG-1, FT-12-21, PF-19.
Fouled Out - Potts, Ainslie - Benton.
Technical Fouls - None.

OKAWVILLE 63, CARLYLE 54
Whatever Okawville head coach Jon Kraus told his Rockets between Saturday night and their contest against Carlyle Monday night must have worked.

Having given a poor effort against Metro-East Lutheran on Saturday night at the Centralia Shootout, Okawville turned in solid work in its first round BIT win over the Indians.

Placing four players in double-figures the Rockets got off to a good start in the tournament with the victory.

Lucas Greten – one of the few bright spots from Saturday’s loss – led the Rockets with 18 points.

Teammates Kyle Heckert and Kyle Meentemeyer each added 12 points while Kenneth Wagner pitched in 10 as Okawville improved to 8-10 on the season, 1-0 in the Benton Invitational.

Carlyle saw its record slip to 7-10 with the loss.

Seth Knollhoff topped the Indians with 14 points while Matt Palm added 11.

Carlyle had two other double-digit scorers with 10 points each – James Snider and Travis Isaak.

Okawville took the lead from Carlyle for the final time with 1:57 remaining in the third quarter as Greten scored five consecutive points on a spin move near the basket and later a 3-pointer from the left corner to give his club a 37-35 lead.

The Rockets closed out the contest by hitting 7-of-10 free throws in the final 2:17.

Carlyle got to within six at 60-54 when Isaak hit a 3-pointer with 1:01 to go.

However Brandon Brammeier and Bryan Leadendecker hit 3-of-4 charities to close out the win.

“I’m at a loss for words right now about the way we played tonight,” said Carlyle head coach Andy Palmer. “We had an opportunity to win this game but our effort wasn’t there, plain and simple. I told the kids I don’t mind losing if we execute everything and play hard and the other team is just better on the night. But we didn’t execute and it comes down to that they (Okawville) out played us and it is frustrating.”

Carlyle will play Benton Wednesday night at 9:00 pm while Okawville will get a crack at state-ranked Pinckneyville at 6:00 pm.

PINCKNEYVILLE 58, HAMILTON COUNTY 30
The Panthers – coming off of a loss on Friday night at home against Nashville – fended off a pesky Hamilton County team in the middle contest of the opening night at the BIT.

Zach Hawkins topped all scorers with 21 points as eight Panthers scored in the rout.

Ryan Rushing and Hayden Hicks scored nine and eight point respectively.

Pinckneyville (15-3) outscored Hamilton County 35-13 in the second half.

The Foxes (7-6) received eight points each from Luke Thomas and Matt Hall.

Hamilton County top scorer Jake Welch was held to five points in the loss.