Benet bounces back, defeats Naperville North

Early on Monday night Benet looked like a young team not quite ready to take on a more experienced Naperville North squad.

But while the visiting Redwings had just one returning starter back and fell behind the Huskies 15-4, Benet managed to get back to its basics - tough defense and rebounding. Those basics, coupled with a big night from Colin Bonnett, the lone returner from last season's state runner-up, were enough to turn things around and give the Redwings a 63-52 victory in first-round play in the Oswego/Naperville North Hoops for Healing Tournament.

The first of Bonnett's four 3-pointers on the night cut the Huskies lead to 15-7, and the deficit got down to five after James Dockery dropped in a 3-pointer at the buzzer. Bonnett finished the night with a game-high 21 points, but his steady leadership after the tough start may have been just as important as his points.

"We came back and didn't have a very experienced team," said Bonnett, a 6-foot-4 senior. "We had some first-game jitters and we came out with a slow start. We just got the team together and said, 'Listen, relax and focus on defense.' That's what our program is built on."

Naperville North, boasting three starters back from a 17-10 team, blitzed Benet with a 15-1 run after Redwing Dan Sobolewski had opened the night's scoring with the first of Benet's nine 3-pointers. Baylor Griffin had 4 baskets inside and Zach Tuxhorn dropped in a long-range 3 as the hosts started quickly.

But Benet got a little boost from that late 6-0 run to close out the opening quarter and it seemed to spark the young team.

"Their experience was a factor at the beginning of the game and our inexperience was a factor as well," Redwings coach Gene Heidkamp said. "We were very timid and very nervous and maybe a little bit scared in the first quarter."

But that changed in a hurry.

"Colin hit a 3 to make it 15-7 and James hit that 3 at the buzzer to make it 15-10, I think that gave us a little bit of confidence," Heidkamp said, "and kind of reassured us that we could be in the game."

The Redwings closed to within 27-26 at the half and then led 45-40 after three quarters on their way to the victory. Sobolewski and Dockery combined for 27 points and joined Bonnett to give the visitors three players in double figures. A 26-15 advantage on the boards also helped Benet.

For the Huskies, sophomore Mitch Lewis sparked the offense off the bench with 15 points, Brian Dalton had 14 points and Griffin finished with 10 points after a big first quarter.

"I think they just out-toughed us and out-rebounded us," Huskies coach Jeff Powers said. "I thought offensively we did fine. We shot 57 percent ... but they had nine 3s and we had two 3s. That's because we don't close out quick enough, we don't rotate fast enough yet and we've got to figure that out."

Naperville North gets another tough test in Tuesday's tourney play when it faces a Neuqua Valley team that beat Oswego East 69-43 in Monday's opener in Naperville.