A disappointing season for Benicia High’s boys varsity basketball team came to a satisfying end with a 68-64 Senior Night victory over visiting American Canyon on Tuesday night.

BENICIA HIGH’S boys basketball program honored its six seniors before Tuesday night’s season finale against American Canyon. Pictured are (from left) J.T. Vosley-Hodge, Eric Voss, Derek Johnstone, varsity head coach Steve Carter, D’Angelo Cronin, Marcus Turner and James Hyde Jr.

It was only the seventh win all season for Benicia (7-20), which went 4-6 to finish in fourth place in the Solano County Athletic Conference.

“I was happy we got a win and I’m already looking forward to next season,” said Benicia head coach Steve Carter.

Benicia senior Derek Johnstone scored all 12 of his points in the first quarter and senior teammate Eric Voss added 11 points in his final basketball game for the Panthers.

“I didn’t think about it until a few minutes after the game,” Voss said of his final game as a Panther. “It kind of hit me that I’ll probably never play another official game again. But it was a good way to end the season. We had our ups and downs but we never gave up because we love the game of basketball.”

“My whole family was here so it was a big moment for me,” added senior D’Angelo Cronin.

Carter started five seniors and that group helped the Panthers build an early 15-10 lead. Benicia never trailed in the first half but went into halftime leading by only a point against American Canyon, which finished 3-22 overall and 0-10 in SCAC play.

“I just wanted to have fun, give the seniors some playing time together and then sub five in and five out,” Carter said. “We played good early and then kind of let down a little bit. We beat them by more than 20 at their place and I think maybe we let them play with us. (American Canyon) made us play but I never felt like we weren’t going to win.”

A 3-pointer by Cronin and a 3-point play by senior James Hyde Jr. gave Benicia a 47-36 lead with three minutes left in the third quarter. The Wolves, however, slowly battled back and took a 56-55 lead when Malik Beachum completed a 3-point play with four minutes remaining.

Tied 57-57 with just over a minute to play, Voss buried a 3-pointer from the top of the key to put the Panthers ahead to stay. Dakarai Hughes stole the ball two seconds later, scored and was fouled, completing a 3-point play to make it 63-57.

The Panthers almost let American Canyon off the hook when they were whistled for a double technical foul with nine seconds remaining. The Wolves, however, made only 2-of-4 free throws and missed a desperation 3-point attempt at the buzzer.

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