They say all good things must come to an end.
The members of the Benton Rangers' boys varsity basketball team would agree that their season ended all too quickly for them. After a 31-2 regular season, the Rangers kept their success rolling through the post-season play.
They earned their first Regional championship in over four years and hoped for their first Sectional championship since 2003. But their efforts were blocked by the Centralia Orphans who took the championship Friday night by a 56-47 victory on the Rangers' home court.
"I didn't really know what to expect coming into this season," said senior Derek Oxford. "I knew we had a special group of guys that loved each other. When you have that, you can do anything. I couldn't be more proud of what we've accomplished as a group."
Junior Gehrig Wynn shared Oxford's sentiment saying: "Not a lot of other people thought we would [get this far], but I think we knew we could… when we were growing up we always could find a way to win, that's why we believed in ourselves… Tonight we weren't able to do it, but we'll be back next year."
The Orphans showed their stuff early with back-to-back 3-point buckets by freshman Jamie Long. This early lead stung the Rangers who, despite their offensive attack, could not come back from.
Parker Williams (10 points) tallied the first pair of points for the home team with two free throw buckets. Moments later, the Orphans responded with a solo free throw and another trey from senior Dawson Berry.
Senior Ranger Oxford (12 points) hoped to give his team a nudge in the right direction by putting up a pair of 3-pointers late in the quarter, putting them behind 12-8. Williams added his own jump shot to put the Rangers behind by two points, but then Berry sunk another trey at the buzzer to give the Orphans a 5 point lead after one.
After the huddle, seniors Timmy Henson (6 points) and Austin Wills (15 points) chipped away at the Orphans lead, but the Rangers could get ahead of their opponents.
Midway through the quarter, the Orphans' Jordan Maines tallied a pair of free throws and Berry sunk another jump shot to keep their team ahead. Later on in the quarter, the Orphans wen on an 8-point run to stretch their lead to nine points (27-16) at the half.
"We did a good job getting the game at the pace we wanted it at," said Ron Winemiller, Rangers' coach. "We just couldn't get the scoring when we needed to… they were trying to take those guys away (Oxford and Wills)… we had some other guys play well, we just didn't make enough shots early on."
Back on the court, the Rangers again chipped away at the Orphans' lead with help from Oxford's third trey of the game. Wills also sunk his solo trey of the game later on in the quarter, but it was not enough as Maines took control of the other end of the court and put up eight points for the Orphans.
Into the final quarter, the Rangers found themselves down by five points (37-32) and time running out on their season.
Things got rough on the court as fouls were called at both ends. The Rangers took a total of seven trips to the free throw line. Junior Wynn tallied his four points of the game with four free throws.
With the clock running down the final minute of the game--and the Rangers down by 12 points--Oxford refused to quit and drained his fourth 3-pointer with two seconds left.
"It's cool to be able to play your last game on your home court with your community behind you," Oxford said. "It's going to sting for a while, but we're going to be proud of for a long time."
"It's been unbelievable," Winemiller said of his team's season. "This is something they should be proud of. It's something that moving forward they're going to look back on and really be proud of what they've accomplished."
The Rangers finished their season as SIRR Conference champions, two-time BIT champions, Goreville Invite champions, IHSA Class 3A Carterville Regional champions and Sweet Sixteen qualifiers.
This monumental season marks the end of Oxford, Henson and Wills' high school basketball careers. Wynn will return as a senior next season and he said they will miss their seniors, but will find a way to fill the holes they will leave behind.
"We'll miss some scoring but more importantly we'll miss leadership," Winemiller said. "Those guys showed up every day and worked hard… they made the guys younger than them better."
Oxford is still up in the air as to whether or not he will continue with basketball into college. Also a golf and baseball player, he has several options when it comes to college sports.
"I will miss the team and each friendship that I've built," Oxford said of his basketball team. "It's been a pleasure to play with each one of them."
