A strong fourth quarter propelled the Rebels of Humphreys Academy to a 43-37 win over Benton Academy, dropping the Raiders’ overall record to 0-4 on the season.
The game between the Raiders and Rebels began as a defensive slog.
Turnovers, missed shots, and key defensive sets kept the score at 0-0 until 4:47 seconds when Kenny Coalson broke the tie with a layup to put Humphreys up 2-0.
By the time the first quarter ended, the Rebels held a narrow 9-8 lead.
Humphreys increased their lead to Benton to 21-16 by the half.
In the third quarter, the scoring heated up in a big way, especially for Benton.
The Raiders outscored the Rebels 18-11, giving them a 34-32 lead heading into the final quarter.
Benton Academy head coach Steve Flemming kept everything the same in the second half to try to keep the momentum flowing, and for a while, it was working.
“We didn’t do a whole lot of changing on defense at halftime,” Flemming said. “We stayed in the zone. We’re not great at guarding in a man-to-man defense, so we’ve stuck with a zone.”
Then the Rebels struck back.
Humphreys outscored Benton 11-3 in the final quarter of play to take the game 43-37.
According to Flemming, the shots simply weren’t falling.
“We got plenty of good looks, but we just couldn’t get them to fall,” Flemming said. “We don’t have a lot of height. We have to get better offensively. I felt like we played better defense. We’re not known as a great defensive team. We have to get better.”
In fact, the shots haven’t fallen yet for the Raiders this year.
But Flemming isn’t worried just yet.
He’s aware that this is a common affliction for teams in the early portion of the season, and he believes more work can break them out of it.
“We have to start making shots,” Flemming said. “We need more time in the gym. This is typical of early season games. We haven’t had a good offensive game yet.”
Arion Warren led the Raiders will 11 points in the contest.
Cody Prescott and Dylan Moore each chipped in eight points to the losing cause.
