The Porters Chapel Academy Eagles knew going in that beating a talented Benton Academy squad was going to be a tall order. Once the teams got on the floor, it just kept getting taller and taller.

Roger Hancock and Tyler Reynolds, a pair of 6-foot-4 forwards, combined for 41 points and 20 rebounds as Benton handled PCA with ease Thursday night winning 68-26.

Hancock finished with 31 points on 15-of-20 shooting, 13 rebounds and two blocked shots. Reynolds had 10 points and seven rebounds. As a team, Benton was 29-of-53 (54.7 percent) on shots inside the 3-point arc.

Gage Pierce also had nine points and eight rebounds for the Raiders.

“We were a little outmanned tonight. They have two big guys that were good in the paint. God gave some people size, and some people he didn’t,” PCA coach Stacey Sykes said. “We were a little outmanned with their size, and it showed. They were getting a lot of second-chance points, and they really worked good together. We couldn’t compete with it tonight, but I was proud of our guys the way they hustled. It was a lot better effort than what we had the other night.”

Patrick Minor led PCA (3-8) with eight points, four rebounds, three steals and two blocked shots. His brother, Isaiah, scored seven points and Garrett Hutchins had five. Sykes tried to rest a number of players once the game got out of hand. It was PCA’s second game this week, and the first half of a back-to-back. The Eagles will face District 5-AA opponent Clinton Christian Friday night at 6 p.m. at Mississippi College. Thursday’s game was the only one of the three this week that is not a district game.

“I tried to watch my minutes with the guys,” Sykes said. “I didn’t play a lot of our starters as long as I usually do, just because we have games back-to-back and a district game tomorrow. We’re wanting to get back in the win column, and hopefully we can get one and one. We want to compete, but knowing it’s back-to-back games we’ve got to have our legs up under us. We want to finish strong in district.”

Benton (9-1) opened the game with a 10-0 run and never trailed. PCA managed to cut that initial deficit to four, and trailed 17-10 heading into the second quarter. A string of missed shots and effective inside play by Benton’s twin towers put the game out of reach.

Benton started the second quarter with a 16-0 run that lasted until Patrick Minor scored on a driving layup with 3:26 left. Benton took a 39-16 lead into halftime and was never threatened in the second half.

Hancock scored 23 of his 31 points in the first half.

“They were already in the lead and everybody had low self-esteem. When it got away we couldn’t come back,” Patrick Minor said.

 

(G) Benton 52, PCA 28

Porters Chapel Academy posted its highest point total of the year and more than doubled its offensive output from its previous game, but still lost its eighth game in a row.

Benton Academy outscored PCA 16-2 in the first quarter and rolled to the victory. Brittany McCausley scored 11 of her 13 points in the opening period, and Ana Posey Jones finished with 11 points for Benton.

Although PCA’s record fell to 0-8, coach Amanda Yocum said she was happy with the way her team bounced back from a 43-13 loss to Amite School Center on Tuesday night. The Lady Eagles were 10-for-33 from the floor and only committed 11 turnovers. They made five shots against Amite. Cameron Yocum led PCA with seven points, while Kaylee Hinson finished with five points and 10 rebounds. Gracie Felker, Fayth McDaniel and Carlye Smith each scored four points.

“We did a little bit better shooting. We did a much better job getting the ball inside,” Yocum said. “I feel like the biggest thing we’ve got to work on, especially now that we’re scoring a little more, is rebounding. If we can do a little more on that, I think we can put a few more points on the board, take a few away, and maybe we’ll start becoming a little better all around.”