BENTON - The Benton Rangers (20-3) edged past the Pinckneyville Panthers (16-6) 47-44 to win the Benton Invitational Tournament in a thrilling nail-biter between two undefeated BIT teams.
There were hundreds of hyped up Ranger fans at Rich Herrin Gymnasium on Saturday night to watch their team win the title that had eluded them for more than a decade. If the Panthers had won, it would have been their 11th BIT title in 12 years, while for Benton this was the first time they had won the title since 2003. This victory also cemented the Rangers perfect 5-0 record in the BIT, while handing the Panthers their only loss to finish at 4-1.
Asked where this victory ranks among his career coaching wins, Benton coach Ron Winemiller said, “It’s one of the biggest ones, especially a non-post-season victory. Tthis is probably the biggest one because it’s your own tournament and to be able to win it in your own gym, that makes it that much more special.”
Derek Oxford was recognized before the game for becoming just the 18th player in Ranger history to score 1,000 career points. After the game he spoke about that honor and what it felt like to finally bring the BIT championship back home.
“Yeah it’s been a great week,” Oxford said, adding, “The BIT is a special time. And I’m just happy to bring back the title to our town, we’re all just really excited.”
Panther coach Bob Waggoner congratulated the Rangers on their victory and spoke about his own team’s success in the BIT.
“I’m proud of our team. We had a great tournament. Hats off to Benton. They made a few more plays down the stretch than what we did. I thought our guys gave great effort playing on short rest on Saturday. We had our opportunities, but they just didn’t come through. And it’s a game that will make us better as we finish the season.”
The game was a tightly contested back and forth. Benton's first two points came off free throws by Derek Oxford. Benton jumped to a 7-2 lead in the first. The Panthers clawed back with three-pointers courtesy of Kyle Luke and J.C Moll to close the first with a one-point deficit of 15-14. Pinckneyville narrowly outscored the Rangers 13-to-12 in the second to send the game into halftime tied at 27.
The Panthers took control of the game in the third, outscoring Benton 9-5 to establish a 36-32 lead. They would extend this lead in the fourth to 39-32 at one point, but the Rangers would not be held down for long, as they went on a nine point run, including a three pointer by Austin Wills to tie the game at 41, and capped off by a big bucket from Brendan Ritchason to take the lead 43-41.
Benton barely clung to a one-point lead with 18 seconds left in regulation Austin Wills made two clutch free throws to extend that lead to three. Pinckneyville had possession of the ball for the 17 final nerve-wrecking seconds. Oxford committed a couple fouls to wind the clock down and clamp the pressure on. The Panthers fought back hard until the end, missing a final buzzer-beater that would have sent the game into overtime, as the crowd rushed out onto the court to embrace their BIT champions.
The Rangers allowed nine turnovers in the game to the Panthers’ 12. The Panthers went 8-of-10 from the free throw line, while Benton was 6-of-11 in free throws. The Rangers had 13 regular field goals, with five three-pointers. The Panthers scored nine field goals, with six three- pointers.
The Rangers were driven offensively by Wills, who was Benton's leading scorer with 16 points, followed by Ritchason with 13, and Timmy Henson with eight points. It was a similar outcome for Pinckneyville as Sam Simpson led the Panthers with 17 points, followed by Clayton Hougland with 13 and J.C Moll with eight. Benton was also helped by some offense by Oxford and Kruz Hayes, who both scored five points, which while not up to their usual output, was still an important contribution towards the win.
After the game Winemiller spoke about what he thought were two crucial turning points.
“I thought the three Wills hit was a big play. You know, because that got us back to tied and then Brendan made a couple really big plays down the stretch. I thought those were probably the two biggest plays for us coming down the stretch.”
Wills spoke about how it felt clinching the victory for Benton.
“I mean it felt good because we were kind of on and off all week, but today we really brought it together. It was probably the best we’ve played the entire year, just as a whole. We just really pulled it together today and played better offensively than we had all week.”
It was a tough 24 hours for the Rangers leading up to the championship game. On Friday Benton moved to 3-0 in the BIT after beating the Sesser-Devils 56-25. Also on Friday Pinckneyville moved to 3-0 with a 60-19 blowout over the Hamilton County Foxes which knocked them back to 0-3. Carlyle edged Meridian 52-51 thanks to a basket by Eli Cox with two seconds left to advance them to 2-1, while knocking the Bobcats back to 1-2. This was also noteworthy because it was the Indians’ coach Andy Palmer’s 400th career win.
On Saturday morning the Rangers moved to 4-0 with a 65-49 win over Meridian pushing the Bobcats back to 1-3. Hamilton County picked up their first win in the BIT over the Red Devils Saturday morning 47-44 to move to 1-3 with Sesser-Valier falling to 0-4. Also the Panthers defeated Carlyle.
On Saturday night Meridian was victorious over Sesser 51-43 to finish at 2-3 and knocked Sesser to 0-5. Daniel Valentine led the Bobcats with 18 points, while Charles Farmer was the Red-Devil's top offensive producer at 14 points. Carlyle blasted Hamilton County 66-35 to win a third place showing going 3-2 in the tournament while Hamilton County fell to 1-4. Connor Toennies scored 21 baskets for the Bobcats, while Oakley Dial led the Foxes with 14.
The following players were named to the 2016 “All Tournament Team” for the BIT: Derek Oxford, Brendan Ritchason, and Cruz Hayes of Benton, along with Clayton Hougland, Sam Simpson, and Grant Jausel from Pinckneyville, Tyler Siever and Maverick Taylor from Carlyle, and Daniel Valentine of Meridian.
As the elated Benton fans were finally starting to trickle out of Rich Herrin Gymnasium, Winemiller made a final note to thank the Benton Ranger fans who turned out in droves these past few games to lend their support to the Ranger cause.
“Our community has been unbelievable. Our student section and our adults have come out to support our kids. I think they represent Benton the way they want to be represented. I think as a result people are really getting behind these guys and supporting them.”
