12-30-16
BY JACK BULLOCK
PINCKNEYVILLE - Two very tired teams took the floor Saturday night in the title game of the 11th annual Duster Thomas Classic.

But as it turned out, the Benton Rangers had more gas left in the tank as Coach Ron Winemiller's club took home the championship with a 41-28 win over Trenton-Wesclin.

Behind 16-points and eight rebounds from tournament Most Valuable Player Parker Williams, the Rangers survived a bad second quarter to lead from start to finish to improve to 12-2 on the season.

Hamilton Page chipped in 10-points for Benton as the program won their first Duster Thomas Classic title with the victory.

Page nailed a pair of 3-pointers during an early run that got Benton some breathing room while Williams, a senior forward, scored the Rangers' first six-points on three baskets on the inside.

By the time the Warriors knew what hit them, Coach Brent Brede's club was down 16-5.

Wesclin saw its record slip to 11-2 on the season.

Senior guards Gehrig Wynn and Cade Thomas added eight and seven points respectively in the low scoring contest that was dominated by the Rangers on the defensive end of the floor.

“He (Williams) was good. He was good for four games. He really deserved to be the MVP. Our guys did a great job of getting him the ball in positions where he could score,” said Coach Winemiller. “I thought we did a great job of taking care of the ball.”

Wesclin put three players on the all-tournament team but neither of the three managed to hit for double-figures in the contest.

Senior forward Mick Stephens netted eight for the Warriors while Nate Brede and Brandon Courtney added seven each.

Senior Justin Kellogg added a single free throw to round out the 28 point performance, that wasn't nearly good enough to pick up the win.

Kellogg picked up his third foul of the game with just :33.1 seconds left in the first quarter and had to go to the bench for a brief time.

Defensively the Warriors held Benton scoreless in the second quarter but they didn't do enough offensively to get back the lead.

The real story of the contest was Williams as the 6-foot-2 forward took care of business in the paint.

He scored eight of his points in the first quarter that ended with Benton in control at 18-8.

Despite surrendering a 7-0 run in the second quarter, the Rangers still were on top at halftime.

Unfortunately for the Warriors they hit just 3-of-10 shots in the second quarter, a frame in which they could have taken the lead.

In fact Stephens hit all three of the shots, including a 3-pointer from the left wing to cut the lead to just 18-15 at the break.

“The pace got away from us in the second quarter because we couldn't score so we couldn't press,” said Coach Winemiller. “But in the first quarter we had them playing a little faster than what they wanted to play. In the third quarter we did make some baskets and got them playing a pretty good pace again.”

The Rangers used a pair of conventional three-point plays to get themselves a larger lead in the third quarter.

Both Thomas, on a drive in the lane, and Williams, on a score in the paint, converted for a 26-19 lead with 5:17 left in the third.

The Warriors closed the gap one more time with Brede hitting a 3-pointer and then scoring on a lob pass from senior teammate Hunter Ottensmeier to make it 28-24 Rangers heading into the fourth quarter.

Wynn, a 5-foot-10 playmaker, made the plays in the fourth quarter as he hit two important shots that extended the lead and secured the win.

Back-to-back 3-pointers, one from the right corner and another from the top of the arc, pushed the Rangers lead to 34-25.

Then he and Williams combined to slam the door shut with a pair of free throws each.

Ottensmeier hit his only shot of the night, a 3-pointer from the left wing, that gave Wesclin some faint hope with 1:44 left.

However Benton easily broke the press from the Warriors and Page found himself wide open for a lay in, which sealed the win.

Both teams emptied the benches in the final moments as the horn sounded on a Benton championship game triumph.

Benton's defensive effort forced the Warriors into a 8-of-28 shooting night (28.8 percent) and just 4-of-18 from the arc (22.2 percent).

“They all five (Wesclin players) can score but I thought the key to the game was the job that Cade Thomas did on Courtney tonight,” said Coach Winemiller. “He had been scoring a bunch of points in this tournament but that was the key for us tonight.”

Courtney was held to just 1-of-5 from the field.

They managed to make 8-of-10 free throws or the score would have been much worse.

Behind Brede with six-rebounds, the Warriors held a slight 16-14 rebounding edge.

The Rangers won all of the other statistical battles, hitting 15-of-31 shots overall (48.4 percent) with Williams hitting 6-of-12 himself.

Page knocked down 4-of-5 shots from the floor, including 2-of-3 from the 3-point line.

Benton also forced 10-turnovers in the game, while committing just six themselves, in winning the championship that had eluded Coach Winemiller's team last season.

The Rangers reached the title game last winter, only to lose to the host Panthers 59-53.

This time around Benton wouldn't be denied as they went 4-0 in the event, which included a 51-41 Gold Bracket semifinal win over Pinckneyville.

ROXANA 60, ELVERADO 55
The Shells scorched the Falcons from the outside as Coach Mark Briggs club nailed 14-of-28 shots from behind the arc in the win.

Jacob Golenor was 7-of-14 himself from the arc to lead the way with 23-points.

Teammate Gavin Huffman added 21-points while hitting 5-of-8 from downtown.

Elverado head coach Jacob Emling got 12-points apiece from Trey Bernardini, Aquntez Penn and Dawson White in the loss.

Roxana jumped out to a 21-9 first quarter advantage and then they held off Elverado in the fourth quarter.