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Benet clinches share of ESCC championship

Because Benet shared the basketball, the Redwings clinched a share of the East Suburban Catholic Conference championship.

The Redwings dished out 18 assists on 25 field goals to defeat Mundelein Carmel 63-41 Wednesday night in Lisle. The Redwings will win the title outright if Nazareth upsets Marian Catholic on Thursday night, a game postponed from Wednesday due to the weather.

"It's so special," Benet senior James Dockery said. "This group of seniors, we're so close. We came back knowing it was a two-(team) race coming into this year and no one was even considering us to be at the top of this. It's so great we could come out and be the champs of this conference."

"Nothing was easy for us this year when it came to our conference," added Benet coach Gene Heidkamp, whose Redwings close the regular season on a 10-game winning streak. "We had some really tough games that went down to the wire and we found ways to pull them out. I couldn't be prouder of our guys."

Jack Nolan led Benet with 6 assists.

"We just practice sharing the ball, getting the open shot," Dockery said. "No one cares about putting up big numbers or anything like that. It's just great that we have so many kids like that on the team."

"When you hear that type of stat, you feel good about what your kids are doing," Heidkamp added.

The Corsairs (12-17, 0-9) hung tough through the first quarter, but the Redwings pulled away with an 18-6 second. Junior Matthew Teglia's fastbreak layup gave Benet (25-3, 8-1) a double-digit lead for good at 21-10 midway through the second quarter. The margin hit 20 points when senior Jason Malonga converted a three-point play late in the third, Nolan getting the assist on that play.

"Like we have been all year, I thought we competed really hard," Corsairs coach Zack Ryan said. "We knew going in that they were going to be ready to go because it was senior night and they were playing for the conference."

Malonga led Benet with 15 points, and Dockery added 13.

Senior Christopher Duff led the Corsairs with 16 points. Freshman Jonathan Roeser added 19.

"He's got to be aggressive. That's just how it is," said Ryan, who has a young, thin roster. "Every team we play knows that he's our guy and they try to stop him. I'm just trying to get him to stay aggressive and hopefully get to the foul line some more to get some easier shots."

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