Benet handles early wakeup call, Lockport with ease at Pontiac opener

PONTIAC — There’s always a certain level of adjustment required in playing a 10:30 a.m. game to start any holiday tournament.

Adding another wrinkle in Benet’s opening-round matchup with Lockport on Thursday at the Pontiac Holiday Tournament was the institution of a shot clock at this year’s event.

But Benet’s reaction to that wrinkle was seamless, sparking the Redwings early defense into three early shot clock violations on the Porters and set a tone in a 59-34 victory.

The win lifts Benet (12-0) into Friday’s quarterfinal round where it will face Oak Park-River Forest, a 79-72 winner over St. Charles North.

“I thought the key to the game was our defense early in the game. We made them work for long possessions and had a couple of shot clock violations and kind of established ourselves defensively,” Benet coach Gene Heidkamp said. “Our offense is sporadic and over the course of the game, I don’t think we really shot the ball well and we were a little frazzled and turned the ball over a little bit more than I would like, but I thought defensively we were pretty good.”

And while Benet’s offense might not have been as exacting as their veteran coach might have hoped early, he was satisfied with his team’s ability to treat the element of the shot clock as a non-factor in his team’s ability to reach its goal.

“I think a lot of people thought the shot clock would work against like a program like ours. It’s just the opposite,” Heidkamp said. “It makes you shoot the ball and if we can keep you out of the lane. And offensively, we never have the ball for more than 30 seconds unless we fall asleep on a possession. I was indifferent to it [the shot clock] and here’s the thing when you don’t have it, you have to find a way to win within the rules with or without the shot clock.”

Benet scored the first 10 points of the game and held Lockport (4-8) scoreless for the first seven minutes of the game. And while the offensive attack seemed to be destined to be hampered by the absence of sophomore standout Gabe Sularski, who missed the contest with what Heidkamp classified as a “day-to-day” injury, Benet found a way. Sularski could be cleared to return as soon as Friday’s second-round game.

Early on, most of that offense seemed to run through junior forward Daniel Pauliukonis, who was active on the glass and got an early start on sharing game-high scoring honors for the game with Jayden Wright, as both finished with 15 points.

“He hasn’t played as much lately,” Heidkamp said of Pauliukonis. “He came out and made a couple of shots early and played much better defensively and he was active on the boards. He’s a big part and can be a big piece for us.”

Pauliukonis, along with Benet’s 7-foot sophomore center Colin Stack, made sure Lockport didn’t do anything in the paint as well. The Porters managed just 12 first-half points, and all of those points came from outside the 3-point arc. Lockport would make no standard 2-point field goals in the game, connecting on 10 3-pointers and four free throws to account for all of its scoring.

Benet ripped off a 10-0 run late in the second quarter to set the Redwings up with a 25-12 lead at the break and proceeded to show a little bit more offensive clarity in the second half, putting together a 20-6 run that pushed its lead to near 30 before allowing Benet’s very deep bench to play out the remainder of the contest.