The Road to Peoria- Du Quoin Class 2A Regional: Benton shocks Herrin

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The Benton Rangers proved Tuesday night that, sometimes, speed kills.

Coach Ron Winemiller changed the pace of his team's regional semifinal against Herrin and got the Tigers to shift into a faster gear, then drove right past the Tigers for a 60-50 win.

"For having a bunch of young kids on the floor ... you never know how they are going to react in this kind of atmosphere," Winemiller said. "And I thought for about 20 minutes we played as well as we could play. On the first two possessions, we took two minutes and 15 seconds off the clock. Sometimes when you slow it down like that it makes the other team speed up. I thought we sped them up to the right level that we needed to.

"They are a good team with a lot of seniors and they are well-coached," he continued. "Luckily we made enough plays down the stretch to hold on."

For the first three quarters, Benton played exceptionally well. Ahead 8-6 after one quarter on a Caleb Suver driving bucket, the Rangers took control for the next two periods, outscoring Herrin 33-19 to lead 41-25 heading into the final period.

And they did it by committee, getting contributions up and down the lineup.

Suver scored on the baseline and then buried a 3-pointer to start the second period and put Benton up 13-6 with 5:45 left in the half. Suver scored his sixth and seventh points on a strong basket cut, and Mason Childers shook loose inside, took a pass from Trey Garrett and scored over Herrin big man DeMarlo Harris for a 17-10 lead.

The Tigers pulled within 19-14 on a Nikko Timmons hoop, but Benton made its strongest move of the first half, closing the quarter on a 7-0 run to grab a 26-14 lead.

Suver started the run with a pair at the stripe and Garrett followed with a nice turnaround jumper and a 21-14 lead.

Landon LaBuwi, who contributed mightily in the win, then made a great play. LaBuwi lost the handle on the ball near the lane, but was able to chase down the loose ball and drive to the hoop for a layin while being fouled. He buried the free throw as well, the three-point play giving the Rangers their 26-14 halftime cushion.

After being manhandled on the boards in a 19-point loss to Herrin Friday night, Benton did a complete turnaround Tuesday night, outrebounding Herrin in the first half and keeping David Mallow and Harris off the offensive boards.

"That was the game plan - to keep them off the glass," said Winemiller. "We gang-rebounded and threw a lot of bodies at them and tried to stay fresh. If we let them shoot, shoot, shoot we were going to lose and we didn't do that tonight."

Garrett rebounded hos own miss and scored and Childers hit two freebies for a 30-14 lead to start the second half. Suver then made a tremendous athletic play, going way above the rim to tip in Garrett's miss, as Benton doubled up the Tigers 32-16.

"He didn't settle for jump shots, he attacked the rim," Winemiller said of Suver. "That's all I ask him to do. He is our leading scorer because he is so athetic."

After Mallow scored for the Tigers, Garrett made a pretty up-and-under move for a 34-16 lead at the 4:31 mark of the third period. Childers scored 27 ticks later for a 20-point lead, 36-16.

"Trey was an athlete tonight," Winemiller said. "That is when he is at his best."

Jamie Jones scored and Bobbie Mannie hit the first of his four 3-pointers to pull Herrin back within 36-21 with 2:15 left in the period.

Bt Tyler Leffler scored straight over Haris, Suver hit 1 of 2 at the lineand Leffler added a pair at the stripe for a 41-23 Benton lead.

The Rangers led 41-25 after three quarters.

Benton stretched its lead all quarter, mainly without point guard Cody Smith, who was battling foul trouble.

"The main thing we did was ballhandling by committee," said Winemiller. "It was Leffler, Johnston and Trey. Tyler did a great job guarding and rebounding, too. Maybe his best of the year."

Herrin posed its only real threat as the final period began. The Tigers cut the lead in half with 4:38 left, trailing 44-36.

It was 44-38 one trip later when Harris hit two free throws.

LaBuwi made a good defensive play, wrangling a rebound away from Mallow on Herrin's next trip and Suver was fouled. He hit both for a 46-38 score. Suver picked Jakob Caldwell's pocket, but the Rangers threw the ball away one trip later.

Herrin couldn't capitalize, as they missed a 3-pointer, Leffler rebounding and getting fouled. The foul was the fifth on Harris.

Leffler hit 1 of 2 at the stripe for a 47-38 lead with 2:46 left.

Mallow hit 1 of 2 at the line to pull Herrin within 47-41 with 2:12 left, but Jared Johnston hit two pressure-packed free throws with 2:06 left for a 49-41 lead. Garrett picked up a steal on the defensive end and LaBuwi was fouled with 1:49 left. He hit both and Benton eased back out to a 10-point lead, 51-41.

Benton maintained that lead the rest of the game. Johnston added a free throw with 1:08 left, C. Smith hitting two more with 37 seconds left for a 57-45 lead.

Johnston hit two more at the line with 21 seconds left and Suver finished off the win with 1 of 2 at the line with just under 10 seconds left.

Winemiller admits things got a little hairy in the fourth quarter.

"I knew we were getting tired and if they pounded it in to Harris and Mallow we could be in trouble," he said. "But they settled for long threes - if those go in, who knows what would happen, but they didn't."

LaBuwi and Johnston were terrific at the line and handling pressure late.

"There's nothing like finding a couple of sophomores that haven't played a whole lot to come up big there," Winemiller said. "We expanded their roles and I am as proud as I can be of them. Landon is a very calm kid. He plays at a good pace. We all played at a great pace."

Suver had 19 points to lead the offense, Garrett adding 15.

Mannie was the lone Tiger in double digits with 12.

The Rangers will play Du Quoin - another team that has beaten them twice this season - Friday night at 7:30 p.m. in the regional championship game.

"I haven't seen them play since Christmas, we just have to examine where we are at and go from there," said Winemiller.