01-12-16
BY JACK BULLOCK
BENTON - The Benton Rangers used their overall quickness and depth on Tuesday night in their non-conference game at home against Eldorado.

Combating the Eagles size advantage by speeding up the game defensively and finishing with offensive bursts, Coach Ron Winemiller's team took command in the second quarter, increased their lead in the third frame and cruised home in the fourth for a 64-53 win to improve to 14-2 on the season.

Three Rangers ended up in double-figures in scoring and eight players total netted points in the contest as Benton continued to play well this season.

They gave up some rebounds and missed a few extra shots, but as a whole Benton stayed in control.

Six-foot-one junior Derek Oxford and 6-foot-4 senior forward Brenden Ritchason topped Benton with 14-points each while while Kruz Hayes, 6-foot-2 senior forward, added 13.

Junior guard Timmy Henson also produced, running the show for the Rangers and finding teammates with assists.

Henson scored seven points and he dished out four assists during a second quarter run that turned the tide in the Rangers' favor.

Austin Wills added a pair of 3-pointers for six points, as Benton nailed six long distance shots on the night in the victory.

For the Eagles, who slipped to 11-6, Ethan Partridge carried the weight with 21-points and nine-rebounds for Coach Josh Bradley's club.

However the Eagles struggled handling the ball and it made it tough in the second half getting the ball down low to the 6-foot-5 junior.

Eldorado committed 20-turnovers in the contest, most of which were forced by the Benton pressure defense.

“I thought we did a good job speeding them up. We didn't allow them to just pound the ball into Partridge in the second half which they did early in the first quarter,” said Coach Winemiller. “I thought our guards played well, Chase Owens played well even though he didn't score. I thought that their guards were frustrated by the end of the game.”

Braden Attebury, a 6-foot-3 sophomore, added 13-points for the Eagles.

Junior Max Kasiar and sophomore John Meredith added eight and seven points in the loss.

Benton hit six 3-pointers in the match up and four of those bombs exploded in the opening stanza.

Oxford nailed two of them early and Henson hit his only long range shot of the night in an 18-15 quarter for the Rangers.

Partridge was a real problem early for Benton as this junior hit the boards for a couple of scores and even stepped out beyond the arc for a trey.

But when Hayes hit a mid-range shot with :06 left, the Rangers had a three-point advantage at the first horn.

Turnovers, for both teams, ruled the second quarter but Benton came out of the frame in the best shape.

Eldorado committed six of their miscues after making their best run of the night to take a lead.

Eight consecutive points from Partridge and Meredith forced a Benton timeout.

The two buckets from the junior forward came on a nice move in the paint and on a steal and fast break lay in.

Meredith grabbed a rebound for one score and added a drive for a bucket off of the glass for a 23-18 spread with 6:15 left before the half.

“Ethan played really well tonight inside and he got off really well early and then they sped us up and we started turning the ball over,” said Coach Bradley. “When we got the ball inside we had some success. But when you turn it over there is no shot attempt and no offensive rebounds.”

Unfortunately for the Eagles it was Benton, with Henson leading the distribution, who turned up the heat on both ends of the floor on this cold Tuesday night.

The junior guard had his hand in three consecutive scores, picking up assists to Ritchason twice and Hayes once.

Two of the scores were on cuts to the basket where Henson found his teammates for easy lay ins.

Oxford, senior forward Marc Torres and sophomore Parker Williams got in on the offensive fun run.

Torres scored on a drive that turned into a three-point play and Oxford added a pair of free throws and a transition score.

Williams hit a pair of free throws and then closed the crusade with a fast break off a turnover by Eldorado and yet another assist from Henson.

His bucket closed out a 17-3 sprint in just a little more than five minutes of play.

Benton turned a deficit into a 34-26 lead with 1:46 remaining.

“When you play a team like Benton who have good guards and can score, we can't go four or five minutes with six or seven turnovers because you are never going to come out on top,” said Coach Bradley. “We had too many careless turnovers and the game just got away from us.”

Eldorado got to the foul line two different times in the final moments but didn't fair well.

Kasiar and sophomore Kale Oglesby hit just 2-of-4 while Oxford converted a pair to send the teams to the lockers at 36-28 Rangers.

The Eagles were just 5-of-15 from the stripe on this night.

A quick 10-2 move out of the gate for the hosts to begin the second half gave Coach Winemiller's team its comfort zone.

Two 3-pointers from Wills and a pair of baskets by Ritchason, on an offensive rebound and a steal and fast break lay in, forced an Eldorado stoppage at 46-30 at the 6:11 mark.

“I thought our defense played well, we popped that 10-2 run at them in the second half and that got us a little breathing room,” said Coach Winemiller. “I thought that was really good that we came out with that kind of intensity.”

The lead reached its summit with Henson and sophomore Gehrig Wynn scoring on drives to the basket.

When Wynn hit his shot with 2:34 left, Benton was up 52-34.

A free throw from Partridge and a score from senior guard Adam Ninness closed the quarter at 52-37.

Benton triggered this spread by forcing seven turnovers by the Eagles in the third period.

Teams have a tendency to let up with a big lead and the Rangers fell into that lull briefly to begin the final frame.

Eldorado hit back-to-back 3-pointers to open the quarter with Attebury and Meredith launching bombs in the first minute.

Partridge added a conventional three-point play and yet another rebound basket in the quarter.

This would have been a nice run but Eldorado wasn't getting any defensive stops along the trail.

The Rangers added points from Henson, Hayes and Ritchason.

Eldorado ran out of offense in the final minutes as they missed seven 3-pointers in the quarter, despite hitting the offensive glass for six rebounds.

Benton hit 6-of-9 free throws to close out the victory.

It isn't very often in a high school basketball game that you can get out-rebounded 34-20 (14-offensive rebounds) and still manage to win.

But on this night Benton forced the Eagles into turnovers and missed shots to nab the win.

Benton hit 23-of-48 from the floor (47.9 percent) and just 6-of-19 from the 3-point line.

The Eagles ended up at 46.8 percent (22-of-47 overall) and 4-of-19 from long distance.

The Rangers had just 10-turnovers for the night.

“We play hard for four quarters, that is one thing I will say about these guys, they don't quit,” said Coach Bradley. “Our weakness right now is our point guard spot. We have some guys who aren't used to playing it. They are trying but we got sped up tonight and we had a about a five minute period (second quarter) where we didn't play well.”

Benton will travel to Murphysboro on Friday night before hosting the annual Benton Invitational Tournament next week.

Eldorado has a pair of games this coming weekend at Vienna on Friday and hosting Norris City-Omaha-Enfield on Saturday before heading to West Frankfort for the Mid-Winter Classic the following week.

“I'm really happy about how our guards played and handled the tempo of the game,” said Coach Winemiller. “We have a veteran, mature team and teams will make runs at you . I wish we would have rebounded a little better but I thought for the most part we handled their runs.”

Eldorado (69) – Meredith 2 1 0-0 7, Attebury 5 1 0-2 13, Kasiar 2 1 1-6 13, Partridge 8 1 2-3 21, Ninness 1 0 1-2 3, Traxler 0 0 0-0 0, Oglesby 0 0 1-2 1, Coker 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-18, 3FG-4, FT-5-15, PF-19.
Benton (57) – Owens 0 0 0-0 0, Torres 2 0 1-2 5, Wynn 1 0 0-0 2, Wills 0 2 0-0 6, Henson 2 1 0-2 7, Oxford 1 2 6-7 14, Hayes 4 1 2-2 13, Ritchison 6 0 2-4 14, Williams 1 0 1-2 3.
2FG-17, 3FG-6, FT-12-19, PF-17.
Fouled Out – Kaisar - Eldorado; Hayes - Benton.
Technical Fouls – Ninness - Eldorado; Hayes - Benton.