Prep Hoops: Comeback not in the cards for Bulldogs at Benton

Something had to give Tuesday night at Rich Herrin Gymnasium.

In a battle between two Southern Illinois River-to-River Conference Ohio Division unbeatens, Benton and Harrisburg collided for the top spot in the standings.

Left standing after the final bell was Benton, who behind a 24-point performance from Brendan Ritchason knocked off Harrisburg 59-51 in prep boys basketball action.

Ron Winemiller, in his seventh season on the sideline for the Rangers, praised Ritchason, the 6-foot-4 senior forward, who finished 9-for-12 from the field and went 6-for-7 from the foul line.

"He was really good when we were patient and able to swing the ball around. He shot a bunch of layups and I thought our guys did a good job of getting him the ball in position to score."

Benton led 10-7 after one quarter and took a 24-16 lead into the locker room, but the damage the Rangers did came in the third quarter when Benton outscored Harrisburg 23-12 to take a 19-point 47-28 lead after three periods of play.

The lead didn't last long as the Bulldogs barked back to to get within four, 55-51 after a pair of free throws from Isaiah Saulsberry with 18 seconds to play.

Playing with the lead, Benton took care of business at the free throw line to hold off any comeback by the Bulldogs.

Smithpeters' squad fought back and it was a test against a solid Benton ball club the 23-year head coach was expecting.

"We got down and got down bad," Smithpeters said. "Patrick hit that 3-pointer out of the corner and we cut it to a two-point ballgame with 30 seconds left and that was just an example of how close we got. I thought we shot very poorly tonight, especially early, but I also thought we did a lot of things right.

"We missed a lot of shots and they're shots you just can't miss when you're playing a team like Benton. I thought we defended well enough and held them to 24 points at halftime. We did do some things well, against a pretty good team, but happy with the way we finished because we didn't have the intensity that you have to have in a game like this."

Harrisburg had won 12 of the past 16 meetings with the Rangers, but Benton has won three of the previous four meetings between the two schools.

Harrisburg 07 09 12 23 - 51

Benton 10 14 23 12 - 59

Harrisburg: Drue 1 1-2 2, Gould 0 0-0 0, Bittle 6 1-2 18, Saulsberry 3 13-14 19, Bartok 0 0-0 0,. Smith 2 0-0 5, Ferrell 3 0-0 6, Hefner 0 0-0 0. Totals: 15 14-20 51.

Benton: Willis 4 0-0 11, Henson 5 1-2 12, Oxford 1 3-5, Hayes 2 3-5 7, Ritchason 9 6-7 24, Torres 0 0-0 0, Owens 0 0-0 0. Totals: 22 14-18 59.

3-point FG: HBG 6-15 (Bittle 5, Smith), BHS 4-11 (Willis 3, Henson). Rebounds: HBG 21, BHS 24. Fouls: HBG 14, BHS 15.

Carmi-White County 51, Gallatin County 34

Seth Ramsey had a team-high 14 points for Gallatin County as the Hawks fell at home tuesday night to Carmi-White County, losing 51-34 in non-conference action.

Audie Goebel had eight points for the Hawks, while Robbie Prince scored seven points. Patrick Clark chipped in with three points and Brandon Brazier tacked on two in the loss.

Carmi-White County 13 08 12 18 - 51

Gallatin County 11 09 08 06 - 34

Carmi-White County: Rice 3 1-2 8, Vaught 4 3-3 11, Gray 4 5-3 11, Barbre 1 2-2 4, Simon 5 0-2 10, Northcott 1 2-2 5, Block 1 0-0 2. Totals: 19 11-16 51.

Gallatin County: Ramsey 4 8-5 14, Clark 1 0-0 3, Goebel 3 2-3 8, Price 1 5-6 7, Brazier 1 0-0 2. Totals: 10 12-17 34.

3-point FG: CWC 2 (Rice, Northcott), GCHS 2 (Ramsey, Clark). Fouls: CWC 16, GCHS 14.