JUDA - Beau Benner would like to thank the Mansfield family for his 31-point outburst against Albany Friday night.
Juda (6-3, 2-2 Six Rivers East) senior Kurtis Mansfield was a disruptive defensive force that sprung Benner on repeated breaks in the Panthers' 66-53 cooling of the Comets in a Six Rivers East matchup.
But it's been Kurtis' older brother and 2005 Juda graduate, Scott, that's transformed Benner from an outside threat to a beast on the block.
"I've put in a lot of time in the weight room, in football, and now we've got Scott Mansfield dropping by practice and beating up on us all the time too," Benner said.
Benner did his heaviest damage at the end of the first quarter as he scored eight straight Juda points during a 10-3 run that closed the quarter and found the hosts up 22-16.
He started the spurt with a steal and a lay-in with contact but couldn't convert the bonus throw. Juda managed a reset off the miss and Benner made a decisive cut, took a pass from Mansfield and scooped a contested shot home. With just over a minute remaining, he banked a crafty shot off glass falling out of bounds before a T.J. Zweifel 3-pointer punctuated the Juda junior's scoring binge.
After the Albany (0-9, 0-5 Six Rivers East) junior hit the contested long ball, Benner responded with a physical leaner along the baseline during which he used his body to shield the shot from Bryce Hulbert before getting a teardrop to swish home.
"Everybody just kept getting me the ball and a couple of moves later they were falling tonight," Benner said.
But he quickly gives credit to his teammates and coaches. Particularly the coach on the floor that spurs all the breakout buckets.
"It's a lot easier when Kurtis is getting his steals," Benner said. "A lot of my shots just end up being layups."
"It starts with Kurtis and your best player is your best defensive player," Panthers coach Andy Werner said. "He's as good as there is in the league defensively in my opinion."
Mansfield, who finished with 17 points, flashed his offensive prowess when he scored the last five points of the third for Juda to seize a 53-35 advantage.
After coming away with a steal, he missed the runout, only to make the most of a Panthers reload. He hit a 3-pointer from just outside the circle and, after a Tyler Bauman bucket, capped a 45-second possession with a killer crossover and cold-blooded pullup from the elbow at 17 feet as the horn sounded.
Albany made things interesting late, clawing to within seven points midway through the fourth, but couldn't finish the comeback bid.
Comets coach Derik Doescher had seen Benner a few times and didn't remember him being so assertive in the painted area.
"The few times I'd seen him, he's usually been an outside threat before tonight," Doescher said.
"He bulked up and worked really hard over the summer," Werner said. "Things were happening every time he touched the ball so our guys kept getting it to them."
T.J. Zweifel hit five 3-pointers and went overboard with 23 points after never having broken into double-digit production.
"They were hot and Zweifel had a whale of a game," Werner said. "Those weren't wide open 3s, some of them were two or three feet behind the line."
"It turned into a shootout a bit, usually between Albany and Juda it's a 34-33 grudge match, but we decided to do something a little bit different this time," Werner said with a laugh.
Panther big man Greg Lynch made several nifty lobs to help Benner fill the stat sheet and also splashed a rainmaker from the top of the key.
"You've gotta be able to handle the ball in our offense," Werner said. "Greg's just a guard trapped in a big man's body."
Tyler Pierce also helped stretch the defense, hitting two bombs and scoring 10 points. Werner loves the 1-2 punch in Benner-Mansfield, but he moreso loves the team-concept basketball he's been enjoying. He hopes it persists when Barneveld drops by Thursday night.
Juda (6-3, 2-2 Six Rivers East) senior Kurtis Mansfield was a disruptive defensive force that sprung Benner on repeated breaks in the Panthers' 66-53 cooling of the Comets in a Six Rivers East matchup.
But it's been Kurtis' older brother and 2005 Juda graduate, Scott, that's transformed Benner from an outside threat to a beast on the block.
"I've put in a lot of time in the weight room, in football, and now we've got Scott Mansfield dropping by practice and beating up on us all the time too," Benner said.
Benner did his heaviest damage at the end of the first quarter as he scored eight straight Juda points during a 10-3 run that closed the quarter and found the hosts up 22-16.
He started the spurt with a steal and a lay-in with contact but couldn't convert the bonus throw. Juda managed a reset off the miss and Benner made a decisive cut, took a pass from Mansfield and scooped a contested shot home. With just over a minute remaining, he banked a crafty shot off glass falling out of bounds before a T.J. Zweifel 3-pointer punctuated the Juda junior's scoring binge.
After the Albany (0-9, 0-5 Six Rivers East) junior hit the contested long ball, Benner responded with a physical leaner along the baseline during which he used his body to shield the shot from Bryce Hulbert before getting a teardrop to swish home.
"Everybody just kept getting me the ball and a couple of moves later they were falling tonight," Benner said.
But he quickly gives credit to his teammates and coaches. Particularly the coach on the floor that spurs all the breakout buckets.
"It's a lot easier when Kurtis is getting his steals," Benner said. "A lot of my shots just end up being layups."
"It starts with Kurtis and your best player is your best defensive player," Panthers coach Andy Werner said. "He's as good as there is in the league defensively in my opinion."
Mansfield, who finished with 17 points, flashed his offensive prowess when he scored the last five points of the third for Juda to seize a 53-35 advantage.
After coming away with a steal, he missed the runout, only to make the most of a Panthers reload. He hit a 3-pointer from just outside the circle and, after a Tyler Bauman bucket, capped a 45-second possession with a killer crossover and cold-blooded pullup from the elbow at 17 feet as the horn sounded.
Albany made things interesting late, clawing to within seven points midway through the fourth, but couldn't finish the comeback bid.
Comets coach Derik Doescher had seen Benner a few times and didn't remember him being so assertive in the painted area.
"The few times I'd seen him, he's usually been an outside threat before tonight," Doescher said.
"He bulked up and worked really hard over the summer," Werner said. "Things were happening every time he touched the ball so our guys kept getting it to them."
T.J. Zweifel hit five 3-pointers and went overboard with 23 points after never having broken into double-digit production.
"They were hot and Zweifel had a whale of a game," Werner said. "Those weren't wide open 3s, some of them were two or three feet behind the line."
"It turned into a shootout a bit, usually between Albany and Juda it's a 34-33 grudge match, but we decided to do something a little bit different this time," Werner said with a laugh.
Panther big man Greg Lynch made several nifty lobs to help Benner fill the stat sheet and also splashed a rainmaker from the top of the key.
"You've gotta be able to handle the ball in our offense," Werner said. "Greg's just a guard trapped in a big man's body."
Tyler Pierce also helped stretch the defense, hitting two bombs and scoring 10 points. Werner loves the 1-2 punch in Benner-Mansfield, but he moreso loves the team-concept basketball he's been enjoying. He hopes it persists when Barneveld drops by Thursday night.
