By SEAN LESTER

sean.lester@theeagle.com

Rudder boys basketball coach Daryl Mason said after a loss last week that if the Rangers were going to succeed they would need a second scorer to go with point guard Will Martin.

A'Shanian Smith and Demarshon Wilson supplied secondary scoring Tuesday night as the Rangers defeated Hutto 59-55 at home.

"Down the stretch defenses are going to key in on Will," Mason said. "They did a lot of boxing on Will today, and defenses always recognize where he is because he is the soul of our team. When we can get another scoring punch from other guys that's all the better for us."

Martin led the team with 18 points while Smith added 17 and Wilson scored eight while giving the Rangers more than one threat.

Rudder needed the extra contributions to hold off a rally by the visitors. Hutto's Chase Gleghorn hit a 3-point jumper to close the gap to four points with 30 seconds remaining.

After Martin made one of two free-throw attempts, Marcus Monyer made another 3-pointer to make it 57-55. However, the Rangers answered with the last two points to withstand the comeback.

Rudder improved to 18-10 overall and 7-4 in District 16-4A. The Hippos slipped to 9-12 and 5-5.

"It was a huge win and Hutto is a good team," Mason said. "We felt like we wanted to separate ourselves tonight. Coming into the night there were three teams with four losses. Hopefully after tonight we will be the only team with four losses and be in third place by ourselves."

Mason at times was unhappy with his team's lack of hustle and shot selection against Hutto. Martin was among those players who were challenged to play better.

"We both may have been a little frustrated," Mason said. "We butt heads sometimes but it's for the common cause though, and that's winning. Sometimes I have to work on Will with his shot selection. He's been in a different system up until this point, his senior season, so it's been hard breaking him from some of the shots he likes to take."

Mason said mental toughness is a key area to improvement before his team makes a potential playoff run.

"I think most of the things we can improve on are mental things," Mason said. "It's listening in the huddle during timeouts and listening to what we are trying to do on the fly. All just little things."

The Rangers will play at Pflugerville Hendrickson on Friday.

Rudder 59, Hutto 55

(Numbers indicate field goals, free throws made-attempted, fouls and points)

RUDDER (18-10, 7-4) -- Will Martin 3 2 6-12 1 18, A'Shanian Smith 7 1 0-1 2 17, Demarshon Wilson 2 0 6-11 2 10, Jonas Suber 0 2 0-0 0 6, Justin Johnson 1 0 2-2 2 4, Shivon Wesley 1 0 0-0 0 2, D'Andre Harris 1 0 0-2 2 2.

HUTTO (9-12, 5-5) -- Marcus Monyer 2 3 0-0 3 13, Richard Monyer 2 1 5-6 4 12, Tevin Bellinger 5 0 1-2 3 11, AJ Lopez 2 2 0-0 2 10, Nick Ramadon 2 0 0-0 4 4, Chase Gleghorn 0 1 0-0 1 3, Tim Shomba 1 0 0-0 0 2.

Hutto 14 8 13 20 -- 55

Rudder 16 13 16 14 -- 59

JV: Rudder 77, Hutto 41. Rudder (13-8, 8-3) -- Trey Hines 18, Quinn Haynes 16, Mark Davenport 15, Cooper Currie 10.

Freshmen: Hutto 55, Rudder 40. Rudder (5-12, 4-7) -- Anthony Voneiff 9.

Next: Rudder at Pflugerville Hendrickson, 7 p.m. Friday.