Benet withstands East Aurora comeback to reach final
Benet looked in trouble.
East Aurora's press was wreaking havoc. Superstar Tomcats guard Ryan Boatright was dealing, helping cut what had been a 12-point Benet lead to 4 with three minutes left to play.
During this tumult Benet coach Gene Heidkamp simmered things down in a timeout.
His message: "It was that we were OK."
"If we knew going into the game that we had a 4-point lead with three minutes left in the game, we would have taken that scenario," Heidkamp said.
The Redwings survived the threat to win Wednesday's Class 4A Neuqua Valley sectional semifinal 72-60 over East Aurora behind four double-figure scorers, physical defense and 28-of-38 free throw shooting.
Benet (25-3) got the turnover and the stop it needed to turn back East Aurora, and junior Matt Parisi started expanding the lead again with a pair of foul shots.
Parisi was 6 of 6 from the line in the last 1:55 and 8 of 8 overall, scoring 17 points.
Point guard Dave Sobolewski, who scored 14 of his 21 points from the foul line, joined Parisi to close the game on an 8-0 run, all free throws.
"When they ended up fouling I just wanted to step up to the line with confidence and just shoot it like I have, just like in practice, try to stay as calm as I could," Parisi said. "I ended up doing that and I was fortunate enough to knock them down."
Parisi also was the point man on Benet's committee defense against Boatright, which ended with Boatright fouling out with 1:25 left and 18 points on 5-of-23 shooting. East Aurora shot 19 of 58 as a team.
"He willed 18 points," said East Aurora coach Wendell Jeffries. "He was out of sync from the word go. He missed some shots early that he never misses."
The last time Benet (25-3) made a sectional final was 2005. The team it beat to get there was its opponent this Friday, 27-1 Glenbard East.
It's doubtful the Redwings will be flustered then either.
"When they cut it close we easily could have gone into a shell and let them come back on us, but we did a great job pushing it out and hitting free throws down the stretch and getting defensive stops," Sobolewski said. "That was the key of the fourth quarter, was getting defensive stops on them and cleaning up the defensive rebounds."
Redwings center Frank Kaminsky pulled down 11 boards with 10 points and 3 blocked shots - one on a driving Boatright when East Aurora (19-10) had climbed within 62-58 with 2:48 to play.
Early, senior forward Dylan Flood came up big. He scored 8 of his 15 points in the first quarter, helping answer an 11-7 deficit with a 15-11 Benet lead after a quarter.
"Dylan might have been player of the game," Heidkamp said. "The boost he gave us in the first half was absolutely huge."
Forcing 12 straight errant shots plus 3 turnovers spanning the first and second quarters, Benet led 19-11 at 4:24 of the second quarter. Sobolewski and Pat Boyle started wearing a path to the foul line to pace the Redwings' 33-24 halftime lead.
East Aurora 15-point scorer Letrell "Snoop" Viser had missed his first 4 shots but got on a roll to bring the Tomcats within 43-41 at 3:07 of the third quarter.
Sobolewski answered with one of his 9 assists on a close-in Kaminsky shot, a layup and 4 from the foul line to put the Redwings up 51-43 entering the fourth quarter.
"He's a great player. I give him my respect," Boatright said of the fellow junior point guard. "He knocked down some big shots, ran his team well. He plays good in his team's system. The way they play fits him well. So congrats to him."