Benet hangs tough in ESCC

By definition Senior Nights are all about endings as the players who are closing their high school playing days make their final appearance on the court they've called home for four years.

That was the case at Benet Academy on Friday night as the Redwings' five seniors - Dylan Flood, Mike Runger, Blake Lantero, Chris Cheney and Matt Semetulskis - were feted before the game and then went out and contributed to a 58-38 defeat of Nazareth Academy.

But for the Redwings as a whole, the game was just the beginning of a crucial season-ending stretch that will determine if those seniors will get to end their careers as East Suburban Catholic Conference champions. Benet closes the campaign with trips to Marian Catholic on Friday, St. Joseph on Feb. 20 and Notre Dame on Feb. 24. The Redwings and St. Joe's head into the home stretch tied atop the ESCC with 10-0 records.

"We wanted to win tonight so the Joe's game will mean something," Flood said. "Now we just need to have four good, solid practices this week. We have to get past Marian Catholic, then go into Joe's and if we pull that one out, we'll have the conference wrapped up no matter what happens at Notre Dame."

"Coach had us focused," Runger added. "He told us the best way to go out as seniors was to get the win, go undefeated at home and stay undefeated in the conference."

With the five seniors starting the game, the Redwings (19-3, 10-0) made sure there was little suspense in meeting those goals as they jumped to a 10-0 lead. The Roadrunners (9-13, 2-9) missed their first 11 shots of the game - seven from beyond the 3-point arc - before A.J. Ryan's twisting layup got them on the board with 50 seconds left in the opening quarter.

Alexander Wilkinson's free throws pulled Nazareth within 16-11 midway through the second period, but the Redwings answered with a 16-2 run to open a 32-13 lead with six minutes left in the third quarter while holding a 43-26 edge with eight minutes to play. The key performer in that stretch was junior center Frank Kaminsky, who had 15 points in dominating the smaller Roadrunners in the paint. Kaminsky finished with game highs of 19 points and 13 rebounds.

"In the second half we got the ball inside," said Benet coach Gene Heidkamp. "We challenged Frank at halftime to get inside more and we got the ball to him; that was a point of emphasis."

The closest Nazareth got in the final quarter was 45-32, but David Sobolewski's 9 straight Benet points in a two-minute stretch helped put the game on ice.

Now the Redwings hope it's on to bigger and better things.

"We're excited," Heidkamp said. "This is the best possible position we can be in, in the conference. If we do well in these final three games, it will be a real feather in the cap for these kids."