The district champion and regional consolation champion Bennington Bears with Coach John Talley and assistant coaches Matt Ward and Sarah Sexton.

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Bennington Coach John Talley huddles with the Bears, including Tad Holt, Issac Perez and Josh Hawkins, during a timeout on Saturday in Ada.

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ADA - The Bennington Bears punched their ticket to the area round of the basketball playoffs with a 75-35 win over Lomega on Saturday.

Ryan Lott led the offensive effort with 24 points, followed by 15 for Chance Haislip. Issac Perez pitched in 12 and Tad Holt had nine points as well as a whole pile of rebounds and early blocked shots. Patrick Hawkins had seven, Devin Dophied five, Josh Hawkins two and Trevor McWilliams one.

The Bears took a commanding 18-3 lead after one quarter and kept the pedal down. By halftime it was 33-14 and a monster 24-8third quarter had Bennington overwhelming the Raiders 57-22 going into the final eight minutes.

With the win, Bennington captured one of two Class B Area IV Consolation Championship trophies. On Friday, the Bears outlasted Paden 66-52 to reach the consolation finals. A Thursday loss to Moyers put the Bears in the consolation bracket.

Bennington moves on to the Area playoffs with their next game at 8 p.m. Thursday in Kingston. Their opponent will be the loser of Saturday’s late game between Red Oak and Whitesboro.