Boys basketball: Benet drops heartbreaker in Pontiac final

Benet Academy tried to draw on every ounce of remaining energy it had left in Saturday night’s Pontiac Holiday Tournament final.

But in the end there was nothing left to give.

Pontiac’s tournament setup requires teams that reach the semifinal round win a game in the afternoon then in at least in the case of the second semifinalist, return to the court just hours later in their quest to capture the title.

In Benet’s case that semifinal was a wild one that required overtime to dispatch the top-seed Simeon and likely left even less fuel in the tank that anticipated for the final.

And in the end DePaul Prep managed to grind out a 59-56 victory over Benet. It is the third consecutive season where Benet has finished in the runner-up position at the venerable tournament.

DePaul Prep’s Rashaun Porter, who finished with a team-high 17 points, scored what turned out to be the game-winning basket with 1:26 to play in the contest.

Benet (12-2) had chances to equalize or take the lead, but couldn’t get a shot to fall and missed free throws that could have turned the outcome.

Porter hit one-of-two free throws with eight seconds to play to leave the door slightly open for Benet to try to pull another rabbit out of its hat and force overtime, but the shot rimmed out and DePaul (13-1) earned the Pontiac title in their first ever appearance in the tournament.

A game that had lots of offensive theatrics through the first three quarters tightened up in the final stanza. DePaul’s largest lead was the final score and the game was tied at 50, 54 and 56.

The two teams traded blows in an up-tempo first half, DePaul appeared to be on the verge of stretching things out twice building leads as large as seven, but Benet parried the attempt once with a long-three pointer from Jayden Wright and another just before half on a lay-in from Daniel Pauliukonis, who had 14 first half points.

Blake Fagbemi led Benet with 20 points, while Pauliukonis added 17.

Rykan Woo added 14 points, while Rob Walls chipped in 10. DePaul Prep played the entire second half without once of its leaders, AJ Chambers, who suffered an injury just before halftime and didn’t return to the contest.