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There was no confetti falling from the sky, no cutting down of the nets, just a confident crop of Harrisburg players as they walked off the floor Friday night, knocking off Benton 60-52 and capturing the school’s first Ohio Division River-To-River Conference Championship since the 2001-2002 season.
“There was a lot on the line in this game,” Harrisburg head coach Randy Smithpeters said. “With it being for the outright conference championship and for the fact that it’s the last regular season game and we’ve been playing well and we want to keep that going. We talked about our reputation, of being a good team and this game played out just the way I thought it would.”
It was a battle in the early going as Benton grabbed an 18-11 first quarter lead behind eight turnovers by the Bulldogs to open the game, but Harrisburg responded well in the second quarter, forcing the Rangers into seven miscues and got a much-needed 12 points from Capel Henshaw as they regained the lead at the 3 minute mark and never looked back.
Also on the docket Friday night was the quest for 1,000 points for Harrisburg junior Tyler Smithpeters. The guard came into the game needing nine point and got the magic bucket off a Benton turnover, resulting in what’s become the patented behind-the-back move by Smithpeters and led to an easy layup at the 1:48 mark in the second quarter.
Harrisburg was outscored 10-9 in the third period, as Harrisburg shot 4-of-16 from the field and the Rangers getting to within three after a pair of free throws by Cody Smith, but Harrisburg turned up the heat in the final eight minutes of work, outscoring Benton 17-7 on 6-of-6 shooting from the field, including 10 points from sophomore Eli Taborn-Scott, who the Rangers did not have an answer for down low.
Scott led the Bulldogs in scoring with 20 points and 10 rebounds, while Henshaw tacked on 16 and Smithpeters finished with 14.
Smithpeters also had six blocks on the night and handed out four assist, while pulling down five rebounds.
Ryne Rope and Dakota Upchurch each had four points, while Justin Younger tossed in two.
“We came over here with the expectation of knowing how hard this was going to be,” Smithpeters said. “It was tough at Davenport and it was tough here. There were a lot of ups and downs and when you play a good team, there are going to be some good times and some bad times.”
Smithpeters added that despite the Bulldogs not starting off so hot, he was happy with the way his squad was able to fight back through some adversity on the court.
“I thought Eli came in in the second half and set the stage for some things that the Rangers had some hard times with. We would like Eli to do that all the time and not just in stretches, but that was a big help and opened up some things for us offensively.”
There was no confetti falling from the sky, no cutting down of the nets, just a confident crop of Harrisburg players as they walked off the floor Friday night, knocking off Benton 60-52 and capturing the school’s first Ohio Division River-To-River Conference Championship since the 2001-2002 season.
“There was a lot on the line in this game,” Harrisburg head coach Randy Smithpeters said. “With it being for the outright conference championship and for the fact that it’s the last regular season game and we’ve been playing well and we want to keep that going. We talked about our reputation, of being a good team and this game played out just the way I thought it would.”
It was a battle in the early going as Benton grabbed an 18-11 first quarter lead behind eight turnovers by the Bulldogs to open the game, but Harrisburg responded well in the second quarter, forcing the Rangers into seven miscues and got a much-needed 12 points from Capel Henshaw as they regained the lead at the 3 minute mark and never looked back.
Also on the docket Friday night was the quest for 1,000 points for Harrisburg junior Tyler Smithpeters. The guard came into the game needing nine point and got the magic bucket off a Benton turnover, resulting in what’s become the patented behind-the-back move by Smithpeters and led to an easy layup at the 1:48 mark in the second quarter.
Harrisburg was outscored 10-9 in the third period, as Harrisburg shot 4-of-16 from the field and the Rangers getting to within three after a pair of free throws by Cody Smith, but Harrisburg turned up the heat in the final eight minutes of work, outscoring Benton 17-7 on 6-of-6 shooting from the field, including 10 points from sophomore Eli Taborn-Scott, who the Rangers did not have an answer for down low.
Scott led the Bulldogs in scoring with 20 points and 10 rebounds, while Henshaw tacked on 16 and Smithpeters finished with 14.
Smithpeters also had six blocks on the night and handed out four assist, while pulling down five rebounds.
Ryne Rope and Dakota Upchurch each had four points, while Justin Younger tossed in two.
“We came over here with the expectation of knowing how hard this was going to be,” Smithpeters said. “It was tough at Davenport and it was tough here. There were a lot of ups and downs and when you play a good team, there are going to be some good times and some bad times.”
Smithpeters added that despite the Bulldogs not starting off so hot, he was happy with the way his squad was able to fight back through some adversity on the court.
“I thought Eli came in in the second half and set the stage for some things that the Rangers had some hard times with. We would like Eli to do that all the time and not just in stretches, but that was a big help and opened up some things for us offensively.”
