Benet beats Notre Dame for 20th win
Benet forward Kendrick Tchoua made an explosive move toward the basket and threw down a hammer dunk.
Call it the exclamation point.
"We just had to dig in and play hard," Tchoua said. "My teammates did a great job of getting me the ball."
Tchoua scored 18 points and ripped down 11 rebounds as Benet utilized a trio of dominant runs for the impressive 57-43 victory over Notre Dame in East Suburban Catholic play Friday in Niles.
In overcoming an early 9-point deficit, Benet earned its 20th win of the year, the seventh time in coach Gene Heidkamp's eight years to achieve that distinction.
Benet (20-7, 6-2) also broke its third-place conference tie with Notre Dame.
In the first 11 minutes Notre Dame appeared ready to run the Redwings off the floor. Sophomore guard Anthony Sayles was electrifying and the Dons' early pressure rattled Benet.
Heidkamp called time out with the Redwings down 25-16 three minutes into the second quarter. Benet turned on the lights.
Tchoua scored 7 straight points in fueling a quarter-closing 9-0 run that ended with a Colin Crothers' putback for the Redwings' 30-28 halftime lead.
Tchoua's inside prowess forced the Dons to adjust their defense, and the Redwings' shooters turned up the heat.
Junior Trevor Casmere drilled three 3-pointers in adding 13 points. Reserve guard Matt Reid matched his shooting from distance in contributing 11 points.
A Casmere 3-pointer initiated a 9-0 third-quarter run. Reid's 3-pointer and driving layup closed the dominant 20-6 third-quarter burst.
"It all starts with our bigs," Casmere said. "They played great and they gave me a lot of confidence to go out and make shots. We wanted this game really badly, especially coming off a tough loss last week against Marian Catholic."
Sayles and sophomore forward Troy D'Amico each scored 10 points for the Dons (17-11, 5-3).
"We did a great job defensively with our help and playing through those screens," Tchoua said.
Benet's ferocious and tight defense limited the Dons to just 7 field goals over the final 17 minutes.
"I think two things happened," Heidkamp said. "We played better defense, starting the last three minutes of the second quarter. That is the best defense we have played in a while.
"The other thing was stopped committing live ball turnovers. They were killing us with points off turnovers. For us to be a good team, we cannot afford to allow points in transition. We had 25 turnovers against Marian Catholic."
One of the state's best all-around athletes, Sayles played quarterback and led Notre Dame to a Class 6A football semifinal last fall.
The Dons' leading scorer at 16 points a game, Sayles had just one basket after the first quarter.
"Bennett Hickey is a very underrated defender, and he just did a great job of denying him the ball and making him work," Heidkamp said.