Unbeaten Benet stops St. Viator

Benet was beaten up but showed why it was still unbeaten after Tuesday night's 48-32 East Suburban Catholic Conference boys basketball victory over visiting St. Viator in Lisle.

Northwestern-bound point guard David Sobolewski started after missing Saturday's win over Oswego with back trouble. But he had to come out after the first quarter and didn't score.

Backup point guard Kevin Doyle and starting forward Pat McInerney were also banged up and played little in the second half.

But the Redwings (19-0, 6-0) never trailed in their 20th straight ESCC win as senior Matt Parisi scored a game-high 17 points and 6-foot-7 senior James Roemer came off the bench for 12 points and 5 rebounds.

“Obviously we weren't playing at full capacity, but it speaks to the rest of the team to beat an 11-4 team coming in,” said Benet coach Gene Heidkamp of his team ranked second in The Associated Press Class 4A poll behind Simeon. “(St. Viator) is a tough, scrappy hard-nosed team. They're always a nightmare to play with how hard and how physical they play.”

But Roemer, Parisi and Pat Boyle eliminated any dreams Viator (11-5, 3-2) might have had of pulling an upset after the Lions trailed just 20-13 at halftime. They combined for all of Benet's points as it extended the lead to 39-20 after three quarters.

“We were able to play through it and play well,” Roemer said after scoring 8 third-quarter points. “A lot of other guys could have played well. I got what I could take and that's what happened.”

Benet was held to its season-low point total without Sobolewski, whose status was called day-to-day by Heidkamp, and with Viator collapsing two and three defenders on Wisconsin-bound 7-footer Frank Kaminsky.

Heidkamp said Kaminsky's true value wasn't reflected in his 4 points on 2-for-6 shooting.

“He was the player of the game,” Heidkamp said. “His presence changed everything and he makes other people better.

“A lot of times people do get all caught up in stats but the big thing about Frank is he's caught up in winning.”

Viator got within 44-32 on a 3-pointer by Kevin Walsh (14 points on 6-for-10 shooting) with 2:30 to play. Leading scorer D.J. Morris was held to 9 of his 16.4-point average on 4-for-11 shooting by Parisi.

Viator was outrebounded only 25-20 despite its size disadvantage but committed 16 of its 18 turnovers in the first three quarters.

“I'm really proud of our guys' effort,” said Viator coach Joe Majkowski. “It doesn't take the sting out of the loss but I thought they really played hard and played their butts off.

“I've seen some of their scores and to hold them to 48, I feel if we don't turn the ball over would could have made it a little closer.”