Fast start leads to good things for Benet

Benet Academy coach Gene Heidkamp gave his players one goal Friday night against St. Viator. He wanted them to start fast and jump all over Lions as quickly as possible.

The Redwings (16-3, 8-0 East Suburban Catholic Conference) didn't waste any time putting a smile on their coach's face as they raced out to a 21-4 lead en route to a 58-39 victory in Lisle.

There were two reason for the quick start, David Sobolewski and Matt Parisi, who combined to score 15 of Benet's 21 first-quarter points.

"Coach told us to come out strong and try to give ourselves as big of a cushion as we possibly could," Sobolewski said. "St. Viator is a very fast-paced team that can put points up in a hurry because they shoot a lot of 3s and try to get into transition. To hold a team like this to 39 points is huge for us. That is one thing we have really been concentrating on this season, playing good defense. Tonight we showed that we can."

After the initial run by the Redwings in the first quarter, the Lions (15-5, 4-4) struggled to make a game of it as the closest they were able to get after the first quarter was 12 points.

"They thoroughly outplayed us tonight," St. Viator coach Joe Majkowski said. "From the opening tip they just brought it to us. By the time they built their lead the game was already over because we couldn't come back on them. We planned to play better defense than we did, but still, they played very well."

Frank Kaminsky, Sobolewski and Parisi combined to score all but 10 points for the Redwings. Kaminsky finished with 15 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocked shots. Sobolewski finished with 17 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists while Parisi finished with 16 points in the win.

Benet also won the battle of the glass by a 37-21.

"We played really well tonight, especially with the way we came out firing on all cylinders," Heidkamp said. "When we have three guys play really well, we are very tough to beat, but when we have those three guys and have other guys do the intangibles, we are a very strong team.

"Tonight we showed that. Frank is such a good player for us with his defense and rebounding, and his scoring is coming along. With Dave he just does whatever it takes for us to win. St. Viator is a quality opponent and we respect them very much. That was the reason I knew we had to come out and build a lead."

St. Viator was led in scoring by Alan Aboona, who scored 10 points, including three 3-pointers.