Bennington Sweeps Sylvan-Lucas in Season Opener

Girls: Bennington 40, Sylvan-Lucas 35
Boys: Bennington 69, Sylvan-Lucas 29

SYLVAN GROVE-Eli Lawson scored 24 points and Mister Smith added 21 points as the Bennington Bulldogs took control early and never looked back on their way to a 69-29 victory in Boys Basketball action Friday evening at Sylvan-Lucas Unified High School  Earlier, the Bennington Girls fought off several Sylvan-Lucas rallies to hang on for a 40-35 win over the Lady Mustangs.

In the Girls contest, Sylvan-Lucas fell behind early 4-0 before running off five straight points to take what would be their only lead of the game at 5-4.  Bennington closed the quarter on a 9-3 run to lead 13-8 after the first eight minutes.  The Lady Bulldogs maintained an 18-14 lead at intermission and led 28-23 after three quarters, leading by as much as nine points midway through the third period.

Late in the game Sylvan-Lucas closed to within 36-33 and appeared to be ready to cut their deficit even more when Sophie Pancost stole a Bennington inbounds pass, but the Lady Mustangs turned the ball back over and Bennington was able to close out the game.

Keeli Knobbe led all scorers for Sylvan-Lucas (0-1) with 17 points while Peyton Debold paced Bennington (1-0) with 13 points including eight in the fourth quarter alone.

In the Boys game, Sylvan-Lucas held a pair of three point leads in the opening quarter before Bennington finished on an 11-1 run to lead 17-10.  The Bulldogs then scored 12 more unanswered points to swell their lead to 29-10 before Harlan Pancost knocked down a jumper to end the run.  Still, Bennington outscored Sylvan-Lucas 16-3 in the quarter to lead 33-13 at the halftime break.

The domination continued in the third quarter as the Bulldogs (1-0) put up 30 points with Lawson and Smith accounting for 20 of those points and the fourth quarter was played with a running clock.

Leading the way for the Mustangs (0-1) was senior Valden Dohl who scored 18 points and knocked down four three-point baskets.

Sylvan-Lucas is next in action on Tuesday, December 6 when both teams will face Smith Center in the first round of the Amos Morris Classic at Russell High School.  The Girls game will tip off at 6:30 p.m. while the Boys contest will start around 8 p.m.