Benton’s Harris keys team’s 14-point victory over Beebe
BENTON — There was nothing about Wednesday’s game against Beebe that indicated a must-win scenario for Benton, but the Panthers sure played like it was.
Cam Harris put together a complete outing for Benton, which clamped down defensively to churn out a 58-44 victory over the Badgers at Panther Arena.
Harris, a senior guard, finished with 12 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds and 3 steals for Benton (11-9, 4-5 5A-Central), which has won three of its last four games to make an already murky situation in the conference standings even murkier.
The Panthers’ victory created a three-way tie for fourth place in the 5A-Central with Beebe and Jacksonville. Those three are also just a game behind Sylvan Hills for the No. 3 spot with five games remaining in the regular season. The top four teams advance to next month’s Class 5A state playoffs.,
“The 5A-Central, man, it’s so tough,” Benton Coach Dexter Hendrix said. There’s [Little Rock] Parkview and Maumelle at the top, and then us, Sylvan Hills, Jacksonville and Beebe all lumped in for third and fourth. So you’ve got to play well every night because you know going in that it’s going to be a battle.”
Benton confronted its most recent challenge head on and took care of business at home against a Beebe team it’d lost to 39-36 nearly a month ago.
Andrew Williamson and Carter Harrison each scored 11 points and Chris Tropp had eight points for the Panthers, who trailed only briefly when Conley Herekamp scored the game-opening bucket for the Badgers. Benton netted the next six points, led 31-21 at halftime and never allowed Beebe (12-9, 4-5) to make the same late-game surge as it did in the first meeting.
The Panthers also never allowed Badgers leading scorer, Rylie Marshall, to get untracked.
The Harding University signee, who was coming off a 20-point effort in a 4541 victory over Jacksonville on Tuesday, was held to just eight points. He picked up his fourth foul with 6:51 to go in the third quarter after Benton had established a 35-21 lead and eventually fouled out at the 3:10 mark of the fourth with the Badgers down 51-39.
“I never thought he really got in a rhythm,” Hendrix said of Marshall. “I think [Carl] Daughtery and [Colby] Garland from Maumelle are probably leading our league in scoring, but Marshall is right there with him. He’s such a really good player, and he had 14 points in the second half when Beebe beat us at their place.
“But our game plan coming in was to slow him, as well as [Brooks] Nail, their point guard who’s just as important, down and take them out of the game. Defensively, I really thought that set the tone for us.”
Adrian Carranco had a team-high 12 points and seven rebounds while Nail ended with nine points for the Badgers, who were within 36-27 in the third quarter before an 8-2 run by Benton put them in a 15-point hole. Beebe never got closer than 10 points from that point on.
“Everything works better when you make shots, too,” Hendrix explained. “I thought we hit some big threes in the first half that stretched it out some. And Cam got us going in transition by consistently making the right plays, which also led to some easy shots.
“So I’m proud of these guys. Of course, we’ll enjoy it [Wednesday] before we get right back at it and try to figure out how to try and stop Christian Moore Friday night against Jacksonville.”
GIRLS
BENTON 45, BEEBE 40
Presley Chism’s free throw with 40.8 seconds left gave Benton (17-5, 8-2 5A-Central) the lead for good as it picked up a crucial conference victory.
Chism, along with Alyssa Houston, finished with 14 points apiece for the Lady Panthers, who took a 39-38 lead on a lay-up from Madison McIntire with 4:08 left fourth quarter. Mya Bradley later put Beebe (7-14, 3-6) up 40-39 on a basket with 43 seconds to go before Chism knocked down a pair of foul shots. Houston and Zayyah Bufford would later combine to hit 4 of 6 free throws over the final 22 seconds to close it out for Benton.
Houston also added nine rebounds and four steals for Benton. Wesleigh Ferguson finished with 10 points and eight rebounds.
Madelyn Elkins scored 12 points and Joey Babel had 10 points for the Lady Badgers. Amy Bonds contributed seven points and 10 rebounds.