12-08-06
BY JACK BULLOCK
BENTON - There have been some great comebacks in the history of high school basketball. And then there was the one that happen on Friday night, December 8, 2006 at Benton’s Rich Herrin Gymnasium.

The Massac County Patriots had their first SIRR Ohio Division game of the young season in the bag.

After a pair of free throws by Byron Bailey pushed the score to 25-5 with 4:38 left in the second quarter, Coach Joe Hosman’s young team was steaming along.

Benton couldn’t put anything together on the offensive end and appeared headed for a conference loss at home to begin the 2006-07 league season.

But with a ‘never-say-quit’ attitude Coach Matt Wynn’s team went on a run to close the first half and proceeded to outscore a stunned Patriot team 53-31 from that point on.

A Ryan Sanders tip in just before the buzzer sounded ended the miraculous comeback, giving the Rangers an improbable 58-56 victory and a 1-0 SIRR Ohio Division mark.

“Just for us to get into this basketball game I thought took a tremendous amount effort on the defensive end,” said Benton head coach Matt Wynn. “We could have headed South and took the loss but the kids didn’t let that happen.”

Seventeen Patriot turnovers, including six in the final quarter, showed that Coach Hosman and his young team still have a lot to learn.

However the Benton youngsters showed a lot of promise on this night, especially 5-foot-8 sophomore Trevor Meyers and 6-foot-4 classmate Zach LaBuwi.

Meyers and junior Bryson Potts each hit three 3-pointers in the comeback. Meyers topped Benton with 15 while Potts finished with 11.

LaBuwi came off the Benton pine to score 14 points on the inside while those Ranger guards hit several key shots from the perimeter.

“Zach LaBuwi came in after playing a lot of the junior varsity game and did a great job for us off the bench,” added Wynn. “We needed someone to step up in the post off the bench and he got the job done tonight. It was just a good win for all of our kids.”

In spite of just a 3-of-9 performance from the foul line while being out rebounded 42-23, Benton found a way to win.

Massac County can look at their 19-of-50 production from the field including a 0-of-8 effort from behind the arc as a major factor in its demise.

Starting out the game by getting the ball inside to David Rogers and Bailey while crashing the boards, Massac sprinted out to an 8-0 lead.

A Saylor Shurtz 3-pointer from the left corner and a Nick Hall drive in the lane were the only two buckets for Benton in the first quarter as they missed their other 12 field goal attempts.

In fact Benton came up empty on a possession that consisted of five missed shots and four offensive rebounds.

As the Rangers frustration grew, so did Massac’s lead and probability for a successful beginning to the conference season.

A score in the lane by Jordan Murdock on a nice interior pass by Travis Adamson just before the first horn put Massac in front 18-5.

Scoring seven points in succession from the foul line as the foul plagued Rangers sent the Patriots to the stripe early in the second quarter, Massac led by that seemingly safe 25-5 margin.

“We were frustrated early and playing poorly,” added Wynn. “But our kids made the choice to get themselves back into the game.”

Benton started to chip away at the lead.

Two 3-pointers in the quarter by Potts and Meyers got Benton in its comeback mode.

The Potts trifecta from the left corner turned into a four-point play on a free throw after being fouled in the act by Massac’s Matt Lagore.

This triggered the first big run of the night in the Rangers’ rally. A 10-0 spurt turned into a 16-7 quarter ending, nearly cutting the lead in half

Along with three baskets by LaBuwi, mid-range style, Benton had whittled the Patriots lead to 32-21 at intermission.

“We have been putting ourselves in a hole in games and I don’t like that. But our kids aren’t quitting and that is such a great sign,” Wynn explained. “We play so hard on the defensive end that we like to think that we are going to be in games. We got back in this game with our defense.”

Massac County came unraveled at the end of the third quarter.

Still comfortably ahead 44-30 after a basket by Adamson and a three-point play by Hunter Meyers, the Patriots appeared to stead the rocking ship in the third quarter.

But this vessel capsized quickly under the pressure put on by Benton.

The Rangers startled Massac with a 15-2 finish of the frame.

Meyers and Potts each connected from long range while a steal by Shurtz turned into a fast break lay in by Meyers that cut the Patriots’ lead to 46-42.

Shurtz made another big play at the end of the quarter.

After missing the second of two free throws, the diminutive Ranger guard somehow came up with an offensive rebound and his pass found teammate Hall in the lane for a score to make it 46-45.

Hall was fouled on the play but missed the free throw. However the misfire bounced back to Hall and he assisted on a quarter ending 3-pointer by Potts to give Benton its first lead just before the buzzer, 48-46.

Massac looked the part of a survivor in the first part of the fourth quarter, having weathered the Rangers’ rain of points.

Murdock scored six points in the stanza while Adamson tipped in a shot with 4:16 left to give the Patriots a 54-50 lead.

The Pats final lead came on inside score from Murdock on a nice assist by sophomore guard Jarelle Johnson which made it 56-54.

Shurtz evened the game at 56-all with 1:47 left on a 15-footer from the left wing.

After a trade off of turnovers in the final minute, Benton found itself with the ball at a timeout with :31.1 remaining.

“We just wanted to get the ball in the hands of our point guard (Saylor Shurtz) and let him make some decisions,” added Wynn. “He and Meyers have the most varsity experience. Our guards played their tails off tonight for us.”

Sanders put up a shot with under ten seconds to go. LaBuwi corralled the rebound and quickly launched a shot that banked off the rim.

Then Sanders got between a pair of Patriot defenders for a tap in that beat the buzzer and Massac County.

Following Meyers, LaBuwi and Potts on the scoring sheet, Shurtz and Sanders added eight and six respectively.

But none was bigger than the offensive rebound score than ended the game.

“I give all the credit to our kids tonight,” finalized Wynn. “Massac made us prove tonight that we could shoot from the perimeter. We are a ‘penetration and dish’ team and I think Coach Hosman wanted to see us shoot the basketball to see if we could make some shots. We had some kids that just stepped up and make good shots.”

The Rangers shot 24-of-54 overall after a miserable start. The connected on 7-of-17 from behind the arc.

Benton finished with 12 turnovers, but only four of them in the final 16 minutes.

Murdock, who posted a game-high 16 points, led Massac County (4-3 overall, 0-1 in the Ohio) in defeat.

Rogers finished with 13, as they were the only two Patriots in double digits.

Massac County (56) - Johnson 1 0 2-2 4, Lagore 0 0 0-0 0, Bailey 1 1 3-4 8, Adamson 4 0 1-2 9, Rogers 6 0 1-2 13, 6 0 4-7 16, Meyer 1 0 4-5 6.
2FG-19, 3FG-1, FT-15-22, PF-12.
Benton (58) - S. Shurtz 2 1 1-2 8, Sanders 3 0 0-0 6, Meyers 3 3 0-2 15, Nolen 1 0 0-1 2, LaBuwi 7 0 0-0 14, N. Shurtz 0 0 0-0 0, Potts 0 3 2-4 11, Hall 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-17, 3FG-7, FT-3-9, PF-19.
Fouled Out - None.
Technical Fouls - None.