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Panthers battle Conway
The games, although lost, left a positive impression on Benton head coach Chris Nail. "It's disappointing to get our first loss of the year, but I told the kids that we played harder than we did at Searcy," Nail said. "Conway is well coached and a very good team. Defensively we took some chances and put some points up. It's a long season and I was pleased we registered 57 points. We've improved from our scrimmage to now. "People stepped up like Brandon Moore, who led us again in scoring," the coach added. "Landon Parker made shots, Kevin Wingerter coming back helped us, but we didn't get that added punch from Sam Belcher, who got into foul trouble. Conway was so quick and athletic, they took away our inside game, but I think it was a much better team effort tonight. We'll look at the film and judge it, Conway shoots so good, but I was impressed by Ben Martin tonight. He played hard and that's what we need from him."
Benton took the lead in the game on a 3-pointer from Jones. Martin stepped out to hit a 3-pointer, then Jones scored two more baskets before Parker hit from beyond the arc. By the end of the first quarter, the Panthers were leading 14-10. Conway stepped up the tempo in the second period to take a 28-22 halftime lead. The only scoring for Benton in the second quarter came from the free throw line. In the third period, Conway widened it margin to 47-35, but the Panthers rallied in the final eight minutes to close the gap to six points on three different occasions, but eventually lost 69-57.
"I thought in the first half we were nervous, but that was first-game jitters," Nail said. "I told the kids we could have played better, but we sure played hard. We're ready to get back to practice and get those things fixed. I told them they wanted to do well and that they needed to slow down the offense a little bit. I thought we rushed things out there, but we did better in the second half." Jones drove the lane and the baseline for layups to keep Benton in front, while Belcher battled inside on the offensive boards to score, as well. Jones finished the night with 24 points, while Belcher added 12 points and eight offensive rebounds. "The offense is geared to get the other guys scoring, too," Nail said. "They'll get there. I believe Parker will score more and Yoakum can makes some jump shots for us. We didn't have that against Searcy and I believe that there."
"Defensively, we played hard, but the biggest problem for us was we had to do a better job on the boards," said assistant coach Dwaine Fishburn. "We gave up some threes and we can't do that. That's one thing we'll learn. When you're up by three or more, you don't give up the 3-point shot. You make them drive inside, so you have to stop them on your own."
Scoring summary Benton - B. Jones 24, Belcher 12, Martin 2, Parker 2 - 40; Searcy - Coleman 13, Evans 11, Williams 9, English 4, Harniss 3, Clifton 2, Foster 1 - 43.
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