02-23-15
BY JACK BULLOCK
WEST FRANKFORT - On the opening night there was very little drama at the West Frankfort 2A Regional.

The Benton Rangers, the #4 seed in the event, wasted little time in disposing of Vienna to advance to the regional semifinals.

Behind balanced scoring as eight different players inked the book, Coach Ron Winemiller's squad improved their record to 17-13 with a 62-42 win.

The Rangers cruised to an early advantage and led by 20-points at halftime against the Eagles, who saw their season come to a halt at 16-10.

The game-plan for Benton was to pound the ball inside and it worked early and often.

Six-foot-three junior center Brenden Ritchason to topped all scorers as the lefty scored three early baskets in the first quarter on his way to 17-points.

Kruz Hayes, a 6-foot junior, added 12-points while sophomore guard Austin Wills chipped in 10.

The Rangers won the key components of the statistical war, shooting the ball better than Vienna and controlling the rebounding totals.

Coach Winemiller saw his club win the board battle handily, 31-16 and they shot 51 percent from the floor (24-of-47).

“I thought our defense in the first half was a good as it has been in a long time. We did a good job on Bent and Moore,” said Coach Winemiller. “We did a good job of playing inside and out. When he (Ritchason) got opportunities to score inside he did and when he kicked it out we made some shots and got out to a nice lead.”

Benton wasted little time in getting the lead.

Ritchason proved to be too tough to handle in the paint, scoring on consecutive trips for a 10-4 spread.

The Rangers hit six 3-point shots in the contest and the first one was by sophomore Derek Oxford for a 15-6 advantage with 1:14 left in the first frame.

A big run to open the second quarter by Benton gave the Rangers a commanding lead.

Six-foot-one sophomore Timmy Henson netted a pair of shots in an 12-3 sprint.

His 3-point bomb to open the frame got the drive started and he added a fast break lay in on a steal by teammate Chase Owens.

Another long range shot by Wills and basket inside by Ritchason pushed the Benton lead to 29-11 with 3:04 to go.

Two more 3-point missiles, by Wills and Oxford closed the half.

Scrambling for a loose ball near the top of the arc, Oxford came up with the ball and launched a 3-pointer from the left wing that found the mark before the buzzer as the two clubs went to the break with Benton up 35-15.

Coach Cory Waters and his Vienna club committed four turnovers in the second quarter and trailed big heading to the lockerroom.

It didn't get much better in the second half for the Eagles although they made their best run midway into the third frame.

Trailing 39-15, the Eagles scored seven consecutive points.

One of the bright spots for not only the game but the 2014-15 season for Vienna has been the play of senior guard Quinnton Bent.

Bent topped the Eagles with 11-points and he triggered this brief scoring spree with a conventional three-point play while being fouled by Wills.

Another basket by Bent and a steal and fast by teammate Jarrod Wiggs forced Benton to take a timeout with 4:36 left.

However the Rangers put the outcome to rest by finishing the quarter with a 10-2 run.

Hayes scored on a fast break on a nice assist by Owens and Ritchason muscled his way inside for a conventional three-point play.

Another 3-point bomb by Henson and a rebound basket from 6-foot-3 junior forward Mark Torres closed the third quarter at 49-24.

The two teams soon emptied the benches as the Rangers advanced to take on top-seed Carterville on Wednesday night.

Benton played the Lions close on the road back on January 31, losing 58-54 in a game where Benton had a fourth quarter lead.

Vienna was led by Bent with 11-points as he was the only Eagles' player with double-digits in scoring.

Coach Waters' crew finished just 16-of-40 from the floor and 5-of-13 from the 3-point arc.

Benton grabbed 11 of their rebounds on the offensive glass, using a strength inside advantage to get second chance points.

Besides Bent, Vienna got nine-points from Nathan Gearing and six-points from Zach Moore as the Eagles closed their season.

“I thought we did a good job of controlling the tempo and we did a good job of making the extra pass and getting some easy shots,” said Coach Winemiller.

ANNA-JONESBORO 67, JOHNSTON CITY 22
The second game of the evening was even more lopsided than the first.

The Wildcats jumped out to a huge lead and crushed the Indians in a contest that wasn't as close as even the score indicated as Coach Mike Chamness' team took the lead just seconds into the first quarter and didn't allow Johnston City a point or a field goal attempt in the first three minutes of the game.

Anna-Jonesboro hadn't played in nine-days because of the weather but they shook off the rust of their “cabin fever” and took care of business early.

A-J led 14-0 before the Indians got on the board and doubled that run with another 14-0 sprint to lead 28-2 at the first horn.

Twelve different A-J players scored in the rout, topped by 18-points from Zane DeWitt, a 6-foot-2 senior forward who was part of the fast break lay up brigade.

The Wildcats forced seven first quarter turnovers sent Johnston City home for the season as the Indians fell to 2-22 for 2014-15.

“We wanted to establish the tempo early and we did that. We wanted to get some stops and get some easy baskets and I thought we did that,” said Coach Chamness. “I think sometimes with young teams like they are, if you can get them down a little bit early they will fold up. I thought we set the tone early.”

Senior guard Noah Fuller added 12-points for Anna-Jonesboro, who got over .500 for the season at 15-14 as they also move into the regional semifinals as they will take on the host Red Birds on Wednesday night.

Senior guard Noah Pratter and junior guard Zach Parr also got in on the scoring fun, netting nine-points each.

Those three starters combined for 19 of the first quarter points.

Fuller scored just ten seconds into the game for the lead which was followed by two consecutive fast break scores by DeWitt and Fuller.

DeWitt added two more baskets and junior forward Dakota Earnhart got in on the fun with a score in the paint for a 12-0 lead with 5:09 left.

There were few silver linings to be found in the Indians' camp, but senior forward Brandon Brunk managed to hit double-digits in points, finishing with half of the JC points with 11.

In fact his scored the first three baskets for the Tribe.

However by the time he got his third score, Johnston City trailed 37-6.

Another big run by A-J closed the half and when DeWitt hit 2-of-3 free throws in the final seconds after being fouled while shooting a 3-point shot, Anna-Jonesboro led 47-9 at the break.

Coach Chamness called off the dogs and went to his reserves to play the majority of the second half as the Wildcats moved into the semifinals to take on West Frankfort, a team that beat A-J twice this season; 62-57 on January 31 at West Frankfort and 59-41 on January 23 at the WF Mid-Winter Classic.

Statistically speaking, the game was even more uneven.

Anna-Jonesboro finished 28-of-53 overall, a pretty good shooting effort in which many of those missed shots came by the reserves in the second half with the outcome decided.

They ended up with a 25-24 rebounding edge, another misleading figure considering that most of the rebounds the Indians came up with were in the final two quarters.

The more important stat was that the Wildcats, even with a big lead, didn't get sloppy with the ball, finishing with just five turnovers, compared to 15 by JC.

Thirteen of the miscues by Coach Jerry Hampleman's young squad were in the first two quarters.

Johnston City couldn't find the mark offensively, hitting just 9-of-40 attempts overall, missing all 14 of their 3-point attempts.

Despite the long season that produced few highlights, Coach Hampleman was pleased with his kids' effort.

The strength of the A-J squad is their guard play, which is a weakness for the Indians as they started three sophomores and a freshman.

The inexperience showed in the lopsided score.

“They have three outstanding guards (A-J) and we didn't show up defensively tonight,” said Coach Hampleman. “It is going to take a lot of summer stuff and get back to the basics to turn this around. We basically played with a JV squad this year and I am looking forward to seeing what we can do in the future.”