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Benet takes victory to the bank against St. Viator

Taking a big halftime lead in a basketball game can be akin to contributing to a savings account. Both can be viewed as safety blankets in case of emergency.

That's how Benet Academy felt on Friday night as the Redwings used a 13-2 run to close the first half and take a 27-11 lead over visiting St. Viator at the break, which gave them the cushion required to survive Patrick McNamara's hot 3-point shooting in the second half in a 63-51 East Suburban Catholic Conference victory.

"That was a big part of why we were able to get the win," said Benet coach Gene Heidkamp. "We focused on defense. We knew they were a good team and would come storming back and we had a big enough lead that we were able to close it out."

Airtight team defense paced the Redwings (13-6, 3-1) in the first half as they limited the Lions (11-5, 3-1) to 3 baskets and 16.7 percent shooting while forcing 9 turnovers.

"We did what we needed to do," said Benet forward Colin Bonnett. "We were denying McNamara the ball because we knew he was a big part of their offense, we did a good job on the boards and we did a great job of playing team defense in the first half."

"They came out and their game plan was to take away Pat and Sal (Cannella) and they did a good job of that," said St. Viator coach Quin Hayes. "In those situations we want other guys to step up, but we didn't make shots and our free-throw shooting in the first half was atrocious."

Offensively, Bonnett paced the Redwings with a game-high 29 points, with 9 straight closing out the decisive first-half run. James Dockery scored 13 and Sean Liszka 11 to finish in double figures, and the Redwings made 19 of 34 shots from the field in a what Heidkamp called "one of our most complete games offensively."

Benet appeared to be cruising as Dan Sobolewski's backdoor layup opened the lead to 37-17 with three minutes left in the third quarter, but the Lions caught fire after a timeout as Kevin Monson, Ricky Muench and Danny Walsh hit consecutive 3-pointers in just over a minute and McNamara, who scored 20 points, added a layup in an 11-0 run that pulled St. Viator within 37-28.

The Lions kept pecking away with another Monson 3-pointer making it 56-50 with two minutes to play, but Dockery, Liszka and Bonnett combined to hit seven free throws down the stretch to help the Redwings close out the pivotal ESCC win.

"Stay the course," was what Heidkamp said his message was as the Lions made their run. "We knew they were coming, they're too good of a team, but we didn't panic. We did a good job keeping our poise and made enough free throws at the end."

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