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Benet wins close game from Naperville Central

Benet constructed its schedule just to prepare itself for games like this.

No. 1 seed Benet squeaked past Naperville Central 41-37 in the championship game of the Class 4A boys basketball regional Friday at Benet.

"The tough schedule that coach (Gene Heidkamp) sets up for us is really helps prepare us for the postseason," said Redwings junior Jack Nolan, who led all scorers with 18 points. "That definitely helped out tonight. We've played so many close games throughout the course of the year. Just being there before really helps."

The Redwings' Dan Sobolewski was right where he needed to be at the right time.

His three-point play that gave Benet a 38-37 lead with 1:15 remaining. Naperville Central's Harrison Hallstrom had just broken a 35-35 tie with a jumper from the right wing when Sobolewski grabbed a Benet airball under the basket, scored and was fouled.

"We told the kids before the game it's going to come down to luck," Naperville Central coach Pete Kramer said. "They got lucky. We got them shooting an airball, but they put the ball back in and get a three-point play. This time of the year it comes down to you got to be good and you got to be lucky, and they were lucky."

Following a Naperville Central turnover, Nolan extended the lead to 40-37 with two free throws with 20.3 seconds left. Benet's James Dockery made one of two free throws with six seconds left to put the game out of reach.

Benet (27-3) will play Hinsdale South in a sectional semifinal at 7 p.m. Tuesday at East Aurora.

"This was so special for all of us," Dockery said. "We knew this was going be a tough game. We knew everyone (at Naperville Central). They're friends of ours. This is just some bragging rights, and we wanted this regional so badly.

"Last year was a heartbreaker losing in the regional finals (a 39-31 loss to York) after getting a top seed," he added. "It was so great to get this win."

Ninth-seeded Naperville Central (16-12) enjoyed the game's biggest lead at 21-16 with 2:17 remaining in the first half. But Jack Nolan's 3-pointer 32 seconds later and his short jumper with 13 seconds remaining tied the game at 21-21 at the break.

Benet led by as many as four points twice in the fourth quarter before the Redhawks took a 37-35 lead on a 6-0 run featuring a 3-pointer by James Kendrick.

Matthew Meier led Naperville Central with 10 points, Kendrick added 8 points and Hallstrom and Brandon Baskin both had 7.

Dockery contributed 10 points, 7 rebounds and 3 steals for Benet, which also got 9 points and 6 rebounds from Sobolewski.

"We really have been in a lot of close games," Heidkamp said. "It's been that kind of season. Naperville Central is obviously a very good team. I give them a ton of credit. But we know who we are and we know how we have to play. We knew it was going to go down to the wire."

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