Benet scores inside and out

Benet took advantage of the much younger Notre Dame Dons to win 74-58 in the East Suburban Catholic Conference on Friday in Lisle.

Sean O’Mara led the Redwings with 23 points from the post, but it was their outside sharpshooters who dominated the game, racking up 13 3-pointers.

“They wanted to double-team me from the start,” O’Mara said. “It’s nice to have to have guards I can kick out to. It’s hard to beat a team when you give up 13 3s.”

After graduating five seniors last year, the Dons are in a rebuilding process. Coach Tom Les started two juniors and three sophomores. None had any varsity experience coming into this season.

“The big guy (O’Mara) is good,” Les said. “They look for him and they do a good job. We tried to take it away as much as possible. Benet is good at moving the ball and finding the open guy. They had guys that hit shots.”

The Redwings (10-4, 1-1) present a dilemma for opposing teams. Defenses have to pick their poison; either guard O’Mara and stop him inside or work the outside to prevent shots.

“When we’re making shots from the perimeter, we are tough to beat,” said Redwings coach Gene Heidkamp. “We have multiple guys that can shot. We have a big guy inside who is a very good player and a very good passer as well.”

The Dons (7-9, 1-2) held on for most of the first half, but with five minutes left in the second quarter, Collin Pellettieri hit a couple of 3s to break the game open. O’Mara added a bucket and the defense put clamps on the Dons offense to allow the Redwings to take a 42-32 lead into the half.

“Three-point shooting is a big part of what we do,” said the Redwings’ Colin Bonnett. “Sean draws a lot of attention inside. Everyone on the team can shoot the 3, and we showed that tonight.”

Despite the Dons’ Joe Mooney scoring a game-high 27 points, the Redwings, led by O’Mara, pounded the scrappy Dons with 23 points in the third quarter to seal the game.

“I thought we were effective and even better in the second half of looking inside,” Heidkamp said. “(The Dons) are going to be very good. Not only are they young but they are talented. They play hard and they compete. There’s no doubt in my mind that they’re going to be an excellent team.”