02/27/2024
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARBONDALE - With the top-ranked and fifth-ranked teams in the state in the same sectional things are going to be interesting at the Benton 2A event this week.

Breese Central, the 31-2 regional champs, and 29-3 regional titlist Benton are on opposite sides of the bracket and could collide on Friday night in the sectional championship game.

The top-ranked Cougars are on a roll and the effort and result on Friday night in the regional finale against Pinckneyville was commanding.

Coach Jeremy Shubert watched as his squad imposed their will on the Panthers, smothering them with a defense that took Pinckneyville completely out of their element.

The 42-21 win was a worse beat-down than the final score as the Panthers' reserves scored seven-straight points to make it seem closer.

The only two defeats this season for the Cougars came at state-ranked 3A Centralia (43-23) and against 3A Richland County (44-41) at the Greenville Shootout.

Both games were played in December and Central hasn't lost since, romping to 22-straight wins and yet another regional title.

Of the 31-victories, only three of the contests were single-digit wins.

Columbia twice took the Cougars down to the wire, losing both games 41-34 December 15th and 48-41 on February 6th.

Central topped Taylor Ridge-Rockridge, 48-40 in double-overtime at the Riverton Shootout on February 10th.

The average margin of victory for Breese Central this season is 19.1 points.

Only one of the players for Coach Shubert, 6-5 senior Zane Schrage, averages double-figures in scoring (13.1 p.p.g.) with 6-2 senior Mason Shubert second at 8.5 points a game.

Six-four senior Colton Arnold (8.2 p.p.g.), 5-11 junior Kaden Rakers (7.4 p.p.g.) and 6-4 junior Griffen Becker (5.5 p.p.g.) are part of a balanced offense.

Defense is the 'name of the game' in this part of Clinton County.

Massac County will have the tall task facing Central in the opening game of the sectional on Tuesday night.

Coach Joe Hosman reached more milestones this season as he passed Nokomis coach Steve Kimbro to move into fourth place in IHSA history in wins.

Coach Hosman is now 849-449 in his 45th season as a head coach at both Eldorado and Massac County.

His team had 'peaks and valleys' this season with both winning streaks and losing skids but they added their third consecutive regional title last week as they look for their first sectional title since 2009.

The Patriots have relied on the play of 6-foot senior guard Isaac Hosman, the coaches' son who is a four-year starter.

He is the all-time leader at the school in points (1,830) and assists (697).

Massac County also has guards 6-1 junior Kris Garnett and 6-1 senior Will Harmon.

Harmon is a top-flight scorer for the Patriots and Garnett usually defends the best of the opposition's backcourt.

Hunter Box, a 6-4 senior forward, gives Massac County some size in the lane.

Coach Hosman has 6-4 senior Hunter Box playing well inside for the Patriots.

Six-four senior Jackson Lee is another forward while Jack Turner, a 6-0 junior, adds spark off of the bench.

In the Patriots' 62-58 win over Vienna Friday night, Hosman scored 18-points, grabbed five-rebounds and added four-assists in the triumph over the Eagles, a club Massac defeated three-times in 2023-24.

Harmon scored 20-points in the win and the Patriots closed out the victory by canning 10-of-12 fourth quarter free throws.

The Benton Rangers have winning streaks this season of 13-games and 15-games.

Coach Ron Winemiller's club has just three losses this winter, all within seven days at the end of December and the beginning of January.

A 55-54 loss to Richland County in the semifinals of the Pinckneyville “Duster Thomas Hoops' Classic” and a pair of defeats in Kentucky on January 4th and 5th to Pleasure Ridge Park and George Rogers Clark, a team that sits at 27-2 heading into the Kentucky state tournament this week, are the only loses in 32-games.

Since the George Rogers Clark contest, the Rangers haven't tasted defeat.

Benton won its own Invitational Tournament beating 1A Sesser-Valier, 1A Mounds Meridian and Pinckneyville in the process.

For the season they have victories over El Paso-Gridley, 1A Goreville, Carlyle, Carmi-White County, Carterville (twice) and Hamilton County (twice).

All of whom won 20-games or more.

Docker Tedeschi is a 6-7 junior forward that has been a matchup problem for opponents this season.

Isaac Billington, a 6-1 senior guard, and 6-1 senior Luke Melvin have had strong seasons for the Rangers as well as 6-2 senior Evan Munoz.

All four hit for double-figures in the regional title game win over Carterville last Friday.

Benton broke away with a big second quarter to top the Lions 64-48 at West Frankfort to advance to Wednesday's sectional semifinal at home.

The Rangers will face a strong opponent in 29-4 Trenton Wesclin.

The Warriors and head coach Brent Brede had a tough game to win on Friday as they went into Columbia and beat the Eagles on their home floor to snag the program's 16th regional championship and their first since 2018.

Wesclin won the rubber game between the two clubs on Friday night, 53-49, after splitting a pair of tournament games against each other during the season.

Six-six senior post man Seth Macke has posed problems from the opposition this winter.

But the Warriors are far from a one-man show as Coach Brede has gotten contributions from all five of his starters in a banner campaign.

Six-three freshman guard Gavin Rahm emerged as a huge factor for Wesclin this winter.

Rahm scored 18-points in the win over Columbia Friday night, 12 coming in the fourth quarter as the Warriors outscored Columbia 21-15 to in the final frame for the come-from-behind triumph.

Chandler Mueller, a 6-1 junior forward, scored 14-points in the win and Macke added 11.

Five-ten senior Luke Tasker scored seven fourth quarter points in the victory.

Six-three senior forward Harrison Rakers and 6-2 senior guard Jack Herndon have both helped make this season a memorable one for Wesclin.

The Warriors have won 11-consecutive games heading into the sectional.