LCA’s Jon Harmon launches a three-pointer Tuesday night against Benton Home School. (Photos by Mike Deak)

WINONA LAKE – Looking at the boys basketball box score for the 79-58 Benton Home School win over Lakeland Christian Academy Tuesday night, quick conclusions could be made. Some snap judgments, however, might oversight what became a 21-point Bucks win.

Carter Twombly

Benton did shoot its way to victory, led by the marksmanship of Lawrence LaFollette. The slick shooter drilled a huge three at the end of the third quarter, then came back and buried three more huge bombs in the fourth. The timeliness of his makes made what was a tenuous nine-point lead for Benton quickly become a 21-point cushion in a matter of moments.

LCA had fallen apart in the first half through careless defense, and with it sprouted a quick double-digit Bucks lead. A pair of triples from Jacob Neufer in the second quarter helped Benton to a 40-26 halftime edge, but LCA would fire back with a fury.

Jon Harmon caught fire and hit two three-pointers, which cut a 19-point lead to 12. Moments later, Jake Harmon took an outlet pass and hit the uncontested bunny. What was a double-digit lead since midway through the second quarter was now a nine-point Benton lead at 48-39. That deficit, however, was the closest LCA would get, as Benton scored the final five points of the third, aided by a LaFollette three, then used his shooting to run away in the final eight minutes.

“To be honest, last year we never had that type of push,” stated LCA head coach Chris Hohm. “We would get down eight, then ten, then all of a sudden it’s 20 and we’re sunk. Today, for our kids to show a push to get back into it was a step forward for the program.”

LaFollette finished with six three-pointers and 23 points overall, leading all scorers. The perimeter work of brothers Vince and Alex Tyson balanced Benton, as Vince scored 14 points and Alex added 12 points. In the post, LCA had no defensive answer for Zach Reimer, as the hulky 6’6″ forward muscled in 12 points and pulled down eight rebounds.

Connor Blum

The foul trouble LCA incurred early was key. Point guard Josh McDaniel picked up his third just a minute into the second quarter, and shortly after, Noah Twombly was whistled for his third. With two of his scoring option on the bench, Hohm had to get creative with his rotation, and got some slack from Jake Harmon and Carter Twombly. Jake finished with 13 points and Carter had eight points.

“With all the foul trouble, it shook us out of our rotation,” Hohm said. “In the first half, we got frustrated on the court and it took a while to get away from that. But once we did, we saw that drive and that’s encouraging. I’m starting to see some buy-in, starting to see that push like we had in the third quarter. But if we don’t have that, all game long, we’ll keep seeing big runs like they made at the end of the game.”

Connor Blum had 10 points in the first half, but lost his shooting touch in the second half ending with 13 points. The senior did pull down 12 rebounds, as did Jon Harmon, who finished with 18 points – all on three’s.

LCA falls to 0-4 with the loss, but Hohm feels the upcoming schedule with South Bend Trinity this Saturday then the Bethany Christian Tournament next Saturday – where LCA will rematch with Bethany after a ten-point loss Dec. 1 – should be good meter marks moving forward.

“It looks bad, sitting at 0-4, and losing by 20. But compared to where we were at his point last year, we’re way ahead,” Hohm said. “We are over 100 points better in point differential than we were after four games last year. I think that shows us we are moving in the right direction. We just have to continue to develop and believe that we can compete every night.”

Jake Harmon takes a look before shooting a layup against Benton.