Prep Hoops: Red Devils show no love to Bulldogs

Murphysboro had no love on Valentine's Day.

The Red Devils ripped the heart out of Harrisburg with a furious fourth quarter comeback, completed by a game-winning 3-pointer by senior guard Devante Jones with 2.9 to play as Murphysboro escaped Davenport Gymnasium with a 59-56 victory Saturday night.

With the win, the Red Devils (20-6, 8-1) won the Southern Illinois River-to-River Conference Ohio Division, a night after Murphysboro knocked off West Frankfort.

Jones' heroics came 26 seconds after Harrisburg's (17-10, 3-6) Bahari Amaya tied the game at 56-all after a deep triple from the top of the key.

Jones, who finished with 20 points in the second half stunner for Murphysboro and finished with a team-high 24, copied Amaya by drilling tickling the twine from the top of the key for the game-winner.

Murphysboro head coach Daryl Murphy admitted he was a little surprised by Jones' decision, but never doubted it.

"Devante Jones is our leader," Murphy said. "The kids know that and we go to him in crunch time. The pull-up 3, I didn't see coming because he is usually going to take you to the hole in that situation, they just gave him too much space. I figured he was going to go and we were going to swing (Braden) Miller behind him and get some dribble-drive and a kick. We were able to penetrate their zone all night. They switched man on that last play and just gave Devante too much space, he wasn't going to give him the dribble-drive, backed off and gave him the 3 instead."

Harrisburg was without the services of head coach Randy Smithpeters, who was forced to miss the game after getting two technicals in Friday night's loss to Benton. The opening was filled by junior varsity head coach Richard Dwyer, who tipped his cap to the Red Devils for their decision late in the game.

"If you're on the road, you take the game-winner and I totally understand why they did what they did," Dwyer said. "I guarantee you their thought process was to put it in Jones' hands, just like our thought process was to put it in Bahari's hands. Daryl put it in his best kids hands and all you can do is tip your cap."

Amaya closed out senior night with a game-high 28 points, while fellow class mate Carson Batts tacked on 16 in the loss at home.

Amaya, who already surpassed the 1,000th point plateau earlier this season, may have not got the desired rest he needed according to Dwyer.

"Missing coach Smithpeters, he does a better job with substitution patterns. I Probably left Bahari in there too long, primarily because it was senior night, plus he had two fouls so we played a defense-for-offense substitution."

Batts had 11 in the first half, giving Harrisburg a 29-25 halftime lead. The 6-foot-2 senior forward had a bucket with 6:05 to play in the fourth quarter that gave the Bulldogs their biggest lead of eight points on the night when the led 47-39.

Then came Murphysboro, who used a 7-0 run midway through the quarter to take a 52-51 lead with 2:12 to play.

Isiah Saulsberry answered for Harrisburg by knocking down a 15-footer to give Harrisburg a one-point 53-52.

From there, Murphysboro closed out the game on a 7-3 run to win by three.

Murphy felt like his Red Devils might have had a little bit of a letdown following Friday's win at West Frankfort, but couldn't fault his kids' effort down the stretch.

"Defensively, we did an excellent job in the second half and did as good as we could do," Murphy said. "I thought we got off to a pretty good start. Amaya was Amaya tonight. He was pretty tough and we did a pretty good job on him at times. I think what happened late in the game was his legs got tired and he ran out of gas. They had some other players step up for them tonight; Batts, who I have known since he was about 10 years old, he had a great first half for them. I think that's the difference in the game. He had 12 for them at halftime and I don't know if we gave him any good looks at baskets in the second half."

Batts, who afterwards said that he's sure Dwyer will try to take the loss, but the senior had a different perspective.

"Coach Dwyer did not lose that game, we as players lost that game. Coach never gets a rebound, scores a point or sets a screen. He's going to try to take the blame, but we lost this."

Dwyer did admit he wished he could have got the seniors a win in their last game at Davenport.

"The seniors have been good leaders all year," Dwyer said. "Carson was filling it tonight, but again, he had two fouls in the first half, so we had to play offense-for-defense for him as well, but I thought both seniors played a memorable night for senior night. I sure did miss coach Smithpeters tonight. Without a doubt, if he was here, he would have won that won. In his honor, I thought the kids played hard and we just got outdone down the stretch. I thought Jones made a heck of a shot. I thought Bahari hit a heck of a shot that I thought was going to put us into overtime."

Harrisburg finished 17-for-42 from the field in the game, going 3-of-7 from the floor in the fourth quarter. The Bulldogs went 8-of-26 from behind the arc and 14-of-19 from the foul line, including a 6-for-10 clip in the final eight minutes.

Murphysboro, who hasn't won 20 games since the 2010-11 team that was state runner-ups in 2A, went 23-for-46 from the field and 5-of-12 from long range. The Red Devils caught fire, going 3-for-4 in the fourth quarter from behind the arc and finished the game 5-of-12 from the free throw line.

Benton hangs on to down Bulldogs

BENTON- Benton had four players reach double figures as the Rangers held on for a 77-75 win over Harrisburg Friday night at Rich Herrin Gym.

Bahari Amaya scored 30 points for HHS (17-9, 3-5 SIRR Ohio) but a late rally came up short for the Bulldogs who dropped their second decision in three tries to the Rangers (15-13, 2-6 SIRR Ohio) this year.

Harrisburg coach Randy Smithpeters was ejected after receiving his second technical foul with 1:17 remaining in the game and Benton ahead by 12 points.

Still the Bulldogs managed to close the gap to one possession and had the ball late with a chance to tie before turning it over.

Anfernee Houston finished with 25 points for the Bulldogs, including the club's first 14 points to start the game.

The contest was tied at intermission before Benton grabbed a 54-44 lead after the third.

Kruz Hayes led Benton with 20 points. Derek Oxford added 19 for the Rangers. Oxford shot 22 free throws and made 15. Harrisburg attempted 25 fouls shots as a team and connected on 20 of them.

Senior Carson Batts scored nine points for the Bulldogs.

Michael Dann covers prep and college sports for the Harrisburg Daily Register. Follow him on Twitter: @spydieshooter.

Harrisburg 16 16 12 31- 75

Benton 17 15 22 23- 77

Harrisburg (75): Amaya 10 8-9 30, Houston 9 4-6 25, Drue 0 4-6 4, Batts 3 2-2 9, Bartok 1 0-0 2, Saulsberry 1 2-2 5. Totals 24 20-25 75.

Benton (77): Oxford 2 15-22 19, Owens 1 1-1 3, Hayes 6 7-10 20, Ritchason 6 1-2 13, Wills 5 1-3 15, Torres 2 0-0 4, Henson 1 0-0 3. Totals 23 25-38 77.

3-pointers: Harrisburg 7 ( Houston 3, Amaya 2, Batts, Saulsberry); Benton 6 (Wills 4, Hayes, Henson). Team Fouls: Harrisburg 26; Benton 20. Technicals: Harrisburg bench (2), Drue. JV final- Benton 54-49.

Murphysboro 12 13 14 20- 59

Harrisburg 14 15 14 13- 56

Murphysboro (59): Murphy 0 0-1 0, McCall 3 0-0 9, Jones 10 2-4 24, Marston 1 0-0 2, Baird 0 3-3 3, Miller 5 1-4 11, LaBranche 4 2-3 10. Totals 23 8-15 59.

Harrisburg (56): Drue 0 2-2 2, Amaya 9 5-6 28, Houston 0 4-7 4, Bartok 1 2-2 4, Batts 6 1-2 16, Saulsberry 1 0-0 2. Totals 17 14-19 56.

3-pointers: Murphysboro 5 (McCall 3, Jones 2); Harrisburg 8 (Amaya 5, Batts 3). Team Fouls: Murphysboro 16; Harrisburg 15. Fouled Out: La Branche.

Records: Murphysboro is ‎20-6 (8-1 SIRR Ohio); Harrisburg is 17-10 (3-6 SIRR Ohio).