01-13-09
BY JACK BULLOCK
ELDORADO - The Eldorado Eagles have used the same formula in all of its games this season – get the ball to Isaiah Cunningham and Cody Lane.

Cunningham (28) and Lane (15) led four Eagles in double figures as they handled Benton with relative ease, 74-40 Tuesday night at home in Duff/Kingston Gymnasium.

Jumping out to a quick 11-4 advantage – Coach Greg Goodley’s squadron was never really threaten in improving to 12-5 overall in 2008-09.

Eldorado forced Coach Matt Wynn’s Rangers into six first quarter turnovers (16 overall) while making them pay by connecting on 9-of-13 first quarter field goal attempts.

Benton’s missing pieces – playing without two starters on suspension – was of no concern to Eldorado on this night according to Goodley.

“The one thing we talked about with our guys coming in was to not think about the circumstances that they (Benton) are going through because they had some guys that were getting some playing time and trying to prove their worth,” said Goodley. “I thought we did a good job of finding some size mismatches. Cody and Isaiah got us going early and Barry Parks stepped up and got in a good rhythm. We jumped on them and got some separation. We attached in the first half.”

Cunningham, Barry Parks and Dakota Street connected from behind the 3-point line in the first 3:10 of the first quarter to help Eldorado sprint out to an early advantage.

Parks drained a 20-footer from the left corner with 6:40 remaining to break the game’s only tie to put the Eagles up 5-2.

By the time Street dialed long distance – Eldorado was up by seven with 4:50 to go.

Benton’s Zach LaBuwi – a 6-foot-5 senior – scored six points in the paint for the Rangers in that opening frame.

The Eagles took total control of the contest by polishing off the quarter with a 10-2 scoring romp.

Lane. Cunningham and Parks all scored in this run with Parks getting the last two buckets on a rebound of his own missed shot in transition and then finishing a fast break on an assist from Lane after a steal.

The Rangers wanted to have the last shot of the first quarter but committed back-to-back turnovers to give the Eagles the Park’s baskets.

“We just didn’t play very well and they (Eldorado) are a good basketball team. Lane and Cunningham are as good of players as there is in the South,” said Coach Wynn. “But I didn’t feel like we competed out of the gate with them like we should have. On the defensive end we made it too easy for them. I’m disappointed because I thought we would have had a better effort on defense tonight.”

Benton best shot of making a game of it came early in the second quarter when Kyler Smith and Caleb Suver – two Ranger sophomores – and LaBuwi hit shots to cut the lead down to 25-16.

However Eldorado scorched Benton with an 11-2 bucket brigade with Cunningham scoring seven of the points.

Two of his shots were contested with a hand in his face. It mattered little as the 6-foot-5 swingman put down three consecutive shots.

He ended the run with a 3-pointer from the right corner on an inbounds play to send the score to 37-18 with 2:19 remaining in the half.

When Lane scored his final basket of the half (10-points in the first two quarters) with a spin move to the basket – Eldorado went to the lockerroom with a 40-20 lead.

“We feel like 95 percent of the time we can score. But we have to defend and rebound to be successful and we did that tonight,” said Coach Goodley.

Benton cut into the lead early in the third quarter but never made the kind of threatening run needed to get the score close.

LaBuwi opened the half with a score in the lane while being fouled by Cody Johnston. His converted three-point play started a 7-2 run.

Suver scored the next two baskets as Benton got as close as it was going to at 42-27.

Eldorado scored 14 of the games next 18 points to end the drama.

Two conventional three point plays by Cunningham and Johnston highlighted the surge.

When Johnston – a 6-foot-5 sophomore - finished his three-point play with 1:53 remaining in the third stanza – Eldorado’s ballooned to 56-30.

“He (Johnston) is moving around and defending better for us but he still has to work on catching the basketball better and finishing around the basket,” added Coach Goodley. “He is a sophomore and he has been thrown into this kind of quick but he is doing a good job.”

Cunningham added another three-point play and Lane tossed in a pair of free throws to finish the quarter at 61-33.

“We have some young kids on the floor who are learning the game,” finalized Coach Wynn – whose club is now 4-10 on the season. “We played pretty well against Herrin except that we couldn’t score. We played Harrisburg tough for three quarters but you have to play 32 minutes in these games to win. Our kids are improving but it is frustrating because we will take two or three steps forward but tonight we took a couple of steps backward. We had a good effort against Herrin and Harrisburg but we didn’t get a good effort tonight.”

After both coaches emptied their benches – Benton’s Robbie Motsinger was fouled on a play with 4:01 left and fell hard to the floor. The game was delayed for several minutes as an ambulance was called for precautionary measures. According to Coach Wynn - Motsinger wasn’t injured seriously and will be ok to play again.

Eldorado was a brilliant 28-of-51 from the field overall (55 percent) while hitting 6-of-9 3-point attempts.

After Cunningham and Lane – Eldorado had two other players in double figures with Johnston adding 12-points and Parks finishing with 10.

Benton – on the other hand – was just 17-of-54 overall from the floor and hit just 2-of-13 from behind the arc.

The Rangers were led by LaBuwi with 13 and Suver with eight.

Eldorado out rebounded Benton 32-23 with Lane and Cunningham each hauling down 10 rebounds each.

Coach Goodley’s club hosts Vienna on Friday night in a Black Diamond Conference game while Benton has a trip scheduled to Murphysboro on Friday.

Benton (40) – C. Smith 0 0 0-0 0, Stevens 1 0 1-2 3, LaBuwi 6 0 1-1 13, Suver 4 0 0-0 8, K. Smith 3 0 0-0 6, Stewart 1 1 0-0 5, Lynch 0 0 0-0 0, Tate 0 0 0-0 0, Price 0 0 0-2 0, Kerley 0 0 2-2 2, Motsinger 0 0 0-0 0, Richardson 0 0 0-0 0, Gray 0 1 0-0 3.
2FG-15, 3FG-2, FT-4-7, PF-18.
Eldorado (74) – Parks 2 2 0-0 10, Lane 6 0 3-4 15, Cunnigham 8 3 3-4 28, Johnston 4 0 4-5 12, Street 0 1 0-0 3, Monroe 1 0 1-2 3, Griffin 1 0 0-0 2, Houseright 0 0 1-2 1, Weir 0 0 0-0 0, Langley 0 0 0-0 0, Lowery 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-22, 3FG-6, FT-12-17, PF-10.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.