Marian Catholic 56, Benet 51

It's only one league game, but still a bitter pill for Benet to swallow.

The Redwings saw an 11-point halftime lead slip away in a 56-51 loss to Marian Catholic on Friday in Lisle in their East Suburban Catholic Conference boys basketball opener.

"We had them on the ropes in our gym and we let 'em off," Benet coach Marty Gaughan said.

Benet (2-2, 0-1) scored the first 13 points of the second quarter to take a 22-8 lead and took a 30-19 advantage into the break.

But Marian Catholic (2-3, 1-0) closed to within 30-29 with 4:39 left in the third quarter on a 3-pointer by Brian Johnson.

"We gave up that momentum at the beginning of the third quarter," Gaughan said, "and then it became a dogfight."

Johnson had 8 of his 17 points in the third quarter. He was one of three Spartans guards along with Al Williams and Brandon Sherman to come alive after a first half in which Benet forced Marian Catholic into 9 turnovers.

"We lit those three up pretty good at halftime. We were getting no production from them and too many turnovers," Spartans coach Mike Taylor said. "They started to move the ball a little better and got more aggressive with the ball."

Dennis Kelly's two-handed dunk with 5:38 left in the game gave Marian Catholic its first lead of the game at 43-41, but Ryan Haggerty banked in a 3-pointer to give Benet the lead right back.

Haggerty's spinning drive with 1:48 left gave the Redwings their last lead at 47-46. Josh Forney scored at the other end for Marian Catholic, and Kelly sealed the win with 4 free throws in the final minute.

Haggerty scored 19 points, the lone Benet player in double figures. Joe Meyerhoff added 9 points and 8 rebounds. Brian Gaughan and Emmett Carrier each scored 6 points for the Redwings, who are at Naperville North on Tuesday.

Kelly had 11 points and 9 rebounds and Williams scored 13 points for Marian Catholic.

"We're far from out of it," Gaughan said of the conference race, "but these are the ones that when you look back in January after 13 games you hope that this is one that you don't regret. We have to learn from this one."