Second-quarter edge helps St. Viator past Benet
If ever a quarter in a basketball game told the story, it was the second of them at St. Viator's Cahill Gymnasium on Friday.
Benet Academy had taken a 15-13 lead into the period after Jacob Petrovic connected on a 3 with :04 left in the first quarter.
The host Lions went on a 16-2 run in the second quarter to take command at 29-17. That spurt was enough to lift St. Viator to a 54-45 win a marquee matchup of East Suburban Catholic Conference boys basketball teams.
"The second quarter was the difference," said Benet coach Gene Heidkamp, who saw his team fall to 7-2 and 1-1. "We had 8 turnovers and shot 1-for-9 from the floor in the quarter. St. Viator pressured us and made it difficult for us."
Treyvon Calvin started hot, scoring 8 of his 13 points in the first quarter to keep the Lions in the game after they'd let a 7-1 lead slip away.
Calvin's steal and score gave St. Viator (7-1, 2-0) a 17-15 lead with 7:07 left in the first half. Jack Geary followed with a steal and score to go with 2 free throws to help build a 21-15 Lions lead.
Benet's Jake Ronneberg (9 points) scored to stop what was an 8-0 run to make it 21-17 with 3:00 left in the quarter.
But St. Viator's Connor Kochera hit a 3, Calvin followed with a deuce and Kochera hit another 3 for the 29-17 lead.
"We started out well, but then they tied it up," said Calvin. "I felt I had to provide the energy until the others got going. This was a huge game for us. A lot of people thought we couldn't beat a team like Benet because we were the underdog. We played real hard defense in that second quarter and forced turnovers."
"When you shoot 39 percent for the game and have 19 turnovers, you're not going to beat a St. Viator team in their gym," said Heidkamp.
"That second quarter changed the game for us," said St. Viator coach Quin Hayes. "It helped give us some distance going into the second half. Even when we missed layups, we still stayed the course."
Benet used a 10-6 third quarter run to narrow the gap to 35-27 heading to the fourth.
Colin Crothers, who led the Redwings with 14 points and 7 rebounds, scored to start the frame.
Will Engle's bank shot brought Benet as close as 39-36 with 5:07 remaining.
Jeremiah Hernandez (13 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists), who'd had a quiet first three quarters before making 4 free throws earlier in the fourth to keep St. Viator ahead, scored on a basket and a free throw for a 42-36 Lions lead with 3:22 remaining.
St. Viator's Matt Doersching and Kochera, on assists from Hernandez, both connected 3s sandwiched around 2 Crothers free throws for a 49-38 lead with 1:35 remaining.
A 3 from Ronneberg were Benet's last points and narrowed it to 51-45 with :29 left. Hernandez hit a free throw, and Peter Lambesis, who played a solid game with 9 points and 5 rebounds, made 2 more free throws before time expired.
"We've been in tight games with them like this before," said Hernandez. "When it got close, we settled in and played good defense on them. It was a great ESCC game. We knew that Benet wasn't going to go away after we had that big lead."
"We just didn't handle their pressure well in the second quarter," said Crothers. "We talked at halftime that if we could get some stops on defense then our offense could get us back in the game."
Hayes was please with both the effort and result.
"So many players did different things to help us win the game," said Hayes. "When you beat Benet, you beat one of the top teams in the conference. With the win at Marian Catholic last week I like we're were at. We know that we are now the hunted."