Benet rolls to Proviso West championship game
Benet's boys basketball team may be making its first appearance in 14 years at the Proviso West Holiday Tournament, but the Redwings didn't look like rookies on Wednesday.
Benet's composure especially during a tense second half pushed the Redwings into the title game with an impressive 61-48 semifinal victory over defending Class 3A champion Hillcrest in Hillside.
Advancing to the final for the first time in its 10 tournament appearances, Benet (13-0) will face Homewood-Flossmoor (9-2), a 68-47 winner over Proviso East, at 8 p.m. Thursday.
"All of our starters have experience, all four of the other seniors have experience," said sophomore forward Pat McInerney. "They were on the supersectional team last year, so I think that really showed today. Today was one of the few close games down to the wire that we've had so far. It really showed our experience, I think."
Trailing 31-18 at the break, Hillcrest (10-3) kicked up the pressure in the second half but couldn't get a run going. Even after a brief 5-point burst capped by Julius Brown's three-point play narrowed the gap to 40-31, Dave Sobolewski responded with a 3-pointer.
Free-throw shooting woes kept Benet from rolling in the fourth quarter. The Redwings missed three straight at one point, allowing Hillcrest to eventually rally within 53-48 on a putback by Cassell James with one minute, 43 seconds left.
Benet, however, scored the game's final 8 points. Matt Parisi, who scored a game-high 23 points, including four 3-pointers, scored the final 6 points.
"That's the thing I'm most proud of is our composure," said Benet coach Gene Heidkamp. "We did our share of turning it over, but we found a way to make the big plays at crunchtime."
Benet trailed 9-4 and then 10-7 at the end of the first quarter but unleashed an 18-2 run to start the second quarter. The Redwings shot 9 of 11 from the field, highlighted by a 5-of-6 effort by Parisi, who scored 13 points in the period to help build a 13-point advantage.
Sobolewski scored 15 points and dished 8 assists while McInerney had 12 points and 9 rebounds. Seven-foot center Frank Kaminsky scored only 5 points, but he grabbed 8 rebounds while playing through a twisted ankle injury he suffered at the end of the first half.
Brown led Hillcrest, which faces Proviso East in Thursday's third-place game, with 19 points.
"We just really worked it around as a team," Parisi said. "That was just the difference. We didn't fall apart and we stayed strong throughout the entire second half."