The Benton Courier

Miners earn honors after improved year

By Tony Lenahan tlenahan@bentoncourier.com

BAUXITE – After finishing even at 13-13 this past season, 10 wins better than the previous year, four Bauxite Miners enjoyed 5-4A AllConference honors recently. Senior guard Cornelius

Reed Jr. also took All-State Honorable Mention with his All-Conference accolade, with seniors Bino Stephens and Mitchell Baker, and junior Matthew Bainter also earning postseason honors.

Reed was also named a AAA All-Star nominee after averaging 13 points a game for the Miners, scoring a season-high 31.

“This was his first season ever of varsity basketball and he walked into one of the toughest conferences in 4A and was able to be a major impact player for us,” Bauxite Coach Brandon Kelly said. “The growth he showed over the course of the season was remarkable. He is a competitor. He had the ability to take over games. He knew when to get the ball to his teammates and he knew when to keep it himself. My only regret with him is that I didn’t have him longer. If he continues to develop he has a chance to play some next level basketball.”

Stephens led the Miners with a 13.8 scoring average his senior season after a hiatus from Bauxite before returning. Stephens had a season-high of 32 points.

“I had the privilege to coach Bino in the ninth grade before he moved and when I found out he was coming back for his senior year I was excited,” Kelly explained. “He made our guard play better. One of Bino’s strengths this season was his ability to handle the ball in pressure situations. He never seems to get rattled. Very calm demeanor and sometimes was a little too laid back for me, but he had the ability to get to the rim so he had a little more freedom. He was our most consistent shooter and could get hot at any point in the game.”

The senior Baker had just a 2.5 scoring average, with a career-high of 14, but helped the Miners in many other areas while providing maximum energy and effort.

“There’s so many things I could say about Mitchell. I could talk forever about him,” Kelly said. “Mitchell knew going into this season what his role was going to be and he owned it well. He was our defensive weapon. He is one of the most coachable kids I’ve ever had the opportunity to coach. He played full speed every possession of every game, which made him a threat defensively. Created a lot of turnovers and surprised a lot of teams with his effort. He put in a lot of work over the summer and it showed. He’ll be a kid I talk about the rest

of my career because of his effort and attitude.”

Bainter provided some versatility for Bauxite and improved as the season wore on. He averaged 6.8 points per game. Averaging 4.2 after the 10th game, Bainter averaged 8.4 the final 16 contests, scoring 19 twice for a season high.

“Good thing about Matthew is he is returning,” Kelly said. “Matthew developed as the season progressed and became one of our go-to shooters. His ability to play inside out is going to be a major threat next season. He isn’t done growing and I think will continue to grow post high school, so his upside for college basketball is a good possibility. He takes practice very serious and plays and practices

hard. If he continues to develop this offseason, he can be a major piece of our offense next season.”

Along with Bainter, the Miners will return many others with varsity experience and say goodbye to Reed, Stephens, Baker, Colton Stoops and Kevin Persyns.

“Next year we have a talented junior class in Carter Temple, Andrew Beene, Jon Blackmon Mark Banks and Ty Summerhill to fill around Bainter, (Charlie) Rogers and (Landon) Summerhill,” Kelly said, “and I’m anxious to get these incoming sophomores in the weight room and see how we can develop. Next season looks bright but we have a lot of work to do if we want to compete in this league.”

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2023-03-25T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-03-25T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://bentoncourier.pressreader.com/article/281663964259408

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