advertisement

Benet too hot for Notre Dame

When it comes to Benet boys basketball, you never know who might have the hot hand on a given night.

In Thursday's East Suburban Catholic Conference showdown against Notre Dame, it was clearly Liam Lyman's night.

The junior wing knocked down all five of his second-half 3-point attempts as the Redwings rolled to a key 62-45 league victory in Lisle.

Benet (13-2, 2-1) nursed a 27-23 halftime lead on James Dockery's buzzer-beating 3-pointer before exploding with a 22-9 third-quarter run to take control. Lyman, who scored a game-high 19 points, made a trio of 3s in the period while fellow junior Jack Nolan added 7 of his 16 points.

Despite Notre Dame (11-4, 1-2) burning three timeouts to try slowing Benet, the Redwings still took a comfortable 49-32 lead to the fourth quarter on Lyman's last-second 3-pointer. Seven of Benet's 10 3-pointers fell in the second half.

"It was just my teammates getting me the ball and finding me when I was open, making the extra pass," Lyman said. "What's awesome is that we throw five guys, six guys out there that can really score and put points on the board for us."

There were four lead changes and two ties in the first quarter, and three times Notre Dame pulled within a point in the second quarter. Even midway through the third quarter the Dons stayed within 3 points on Ammar Becar's midrange jumper.

Benet, however, took off on a 17-3 run to close the quarter highlighted by 13 combined points from Lyman and Nolan.

"We have the capability of being a really good team, and I think we've shown it the past two games," said Nolan, referring to Saturday's win at state-ranked Fenwick. "Hopefully we can continue it down the stretch."

Notre Dame, which tried to exploit its size advantage in the post, received 13 points from Becar and 10 points from Anthony D'Avanzo.

"I thought we played one of our better quarters of the year in the third quarter," said Benet coach Gene Heidkamp. "Not only did we make shots, but I thought our defense was much better."

Follow Kevin on Twitter

@kevin_schmit

Grinding out the dog days

Images: Benet Academy vs. Notre Dame boys basketball

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.