Well-rested Benet cruises past Carmel

It was worth the wait.

Coming back from a 19-day layoff, Benet's boys basketball team stammered early but finished strong in a 63-47 East Suburban Catholic Conference victory over Carmel in Lisle.

Although they led the bulk of the game, the Redwings (5-7, 2-2) had trouble extending the margin in the opening half despite the stellar shooting of sophomore guard Dave Sobolewski. A 10-3 run to start the third quarter, however, pushed the lead to double digits.

After that the Corsairs (5-11, 2-2) never drew closer than 8 points away as Benet began to roll at both ends of the court.

"We've had a good three-week break and we were real anxious to get going," said Sobolewski, who scored a game-high 22 points on 10-of-13 shooting from the field.

"During the break we were really pushing ourselves in practice," he said. "In the second half we found a way to pull out a good victory. Our intensity was much better than in the first half."

Carmel, hitting the court for the first time since Dec. 27, played its best ball in the first quarter. The Corsairs fell behind for good midway through the second quarter, but they narrowed a 7-point gap to 25-22 at the half on back-to-back buckets by Kevin Kneeland.

After being aggressive to the basket and sharp with its shot selection, Carmel drifted away from its focus in the second half as the deficit grew.

"We played a good first half and put ourselves in a position to win the game," said Corsairs coach John Ryan. "We gave it away in the third quarter. We got behind, and what happened was we started forcing things. We got a little impatient and you can't do that."

Sobolewski led a balanced effort for the Redwings. Six-foot-eight center Joe Meyerhoff scored 7 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter and pulled down 8 rebounds. Phil Hayes knocked down a pair of 3-pointers while scoring 12 points.

Jon Huisel led Carmel with 13 points and Connor Sexson added 11 points.

"I thought we clearly stepped up at the start of the second half and played like we're capable of playing," said Benet coach Gene Heidkamp. "We went out to win the game instead of playing not to lose. I thought we got out to a real good start on both ends of the floor."