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Hinsdale South's Benson scores 36 to drop Addison Trail

Hosting Hinsdale South and 6-foot-11 center Barret Benson, Addison Trail coach Brendan Lyons knew he'd have his hands full on Friday night. The Blazers needed to find a way to limit Benson if they hoped to stay atop the West Suburban Gold.

Lyons hoped to throw a plethora of bodies at the junior big man, forcing him to earn his touches and double-teaming him when he put it on the floor. However, the application of that game plan proved difficult.

Benson overpowered Addison Trail to the tune of 36 points, 14 rebounds, 5 blocked shots and 3 assists. The Hornets won 60-51.

“Our goal was to make him work for his touches, which we did, and get him into some foul trouble, which we didn't,” Lyons said. “The way in which he was scoring is kinda the hard thing.

“He was hitting 5-, 10-foot turnarounds with his back to the basket and hitting jumpers from outside the foul line. He was doing kind of what we wanted, which was to force him away from the basket, and that's what makes it kind of tough.”

Benson certainly made his presence known in the first half. He had 7 points and 4 rebounds, but Addison Trail held a 13-9 lead at the end of one quarter.

In the second quarter senior guard Taylor White hit a pair of 3-pointers to keep Addison Trail afloat while the rest of Hinsdale South's offense began heating up, taking a 25-23 lead to the half.

White led Addison Trail with 14 points on the night.

After the break Addison Trail (12-3, 4-1) closed the third quarter on a 12-4 run to take a 42-39 lead into the fourth quarter, but that's where Benson took over.

Hinsdale South (11-9, 4-2) scored 10 straight to start the first before a 3-pointer by Addison Trail's Jaavion Bradley stopped the run. However, Benson immediately answered at the other end with an emphatic dunk. He scored 13 fourth-quarter points.

“When he plays like that and we handle the ball the way that we did the majority of the game, we have a really good team,” Hinsdale South coach Brett Moore said. “He's been playing at a completely different level these last six or seven games.”

Bradley had 7 rebounds and 4 assists to go along with his 9 points off the bench for Addison Trail. Sean McCormack had 6 points and 6 assists for Hinsdale South.

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