advertisement

Benet's hot shooting downs St. Charles East

Momentum can turn in a basketball game in the blink of an eye.

Benet Academy proved it during an impressive 75-51 nonconference boys victory over St. Charles East (13-11) in the Day and Knight of Basketball at Kaneland.

After watching their 10-point halftime lead cut to 3 at 37-34 midway through the third quarter, the Redwings (23-3) had several answers - most of them coming from beyond the arc.

Benet torched the net with six 3-point baskets during a 3-minute, 17-second span - 2 each by Liam Lyman and Jack Nolan, and 1 apiece from Justin Enochs and Dan Sobolewski - while extending their lead to 21 at 55-34 after 3 quarters.

"I've never seen anything like that," said Sobolewski, who connected on five 3-pointers during a 19-point performance. "It was a blast playing like that. It seemed like everyone was making shots and everything was going in."

Even Redwings coach Gene Heidkamp came away impressed by his team's torrid shooting during the 18-0 run.

"Obviously that was a great run for us," said Heidkamp, who has guided the Redwings to 7 consecutive 20-win campaigns. "Unselfish play was what highlighted those 3s. They were all open shots from guys making extra passes. We always tell our guys that if you make the right decisions with the ball, it's going to pay for you in the long run.

"It's probably as good a run as we've had over a four-minute time. Sometimes the thing that gets lost in the shuffle is that we had five big stops in between. That was a big part of the game."

Fresh from a crucial 55-42 road win over Geneva less than 24 hours earlier, the Saints didn't have a defensive answer for the Redwings' shooting (55 percent) or superior ball-handling (8 turnovers).

"They run great stuff and we didn't do a good job defending them today," said Saints coach Patrick Woods. "It's tough flipping a game that quickly. We had a week to prepare for Geneva and about 45 minutes to prepare for Benet.

"Different style of play; something we hadn't seen," added Woods. "They're a very good team and they play an incredible schedule. They're battle-tested and we're not."

Sobolewski scored 8 first-quarter points as the Redwings jumped out to a 17-7 lead.

"The bottom line is we started off terrible," said Woods. "We were down 11-2 and 17-4. We work back and cut it all the way down to three and then they go on an 18-0 run - just not good."

Jason Malonga scored a game-high 20 points with 5 steals for the Redwings while Liam Lyman added 11 points.

Evan DiLeonardi and J.T. Ford paced the Saints with 10 points apiece.

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.