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Benet responds with bounce-back win at York

The double-edged sword sliced Benet's way.

Coming off a heartbreaking loss on Saturday, the Redwings' boys basketball team had little time to prepare for Tuesday's nonconference game at York. But it also meant hitting the court right away to ease the sting of the last-second defeat.

Benet bounced back strong with a 42-35 victory in Elmhurst. Unlike Saturday's loss to DePaul Prep when the Redwings saw a late lead disappear, Benet held off the Dukes for a nice road win.

"We came out with the mindset of wanting to avenge a game that we should have won on Saturday," said Benet junior Will Engels. "The whole team rallied, everyone from man one to man 19. We just fought and had a big win."

A sloppy first half resulted in a combined 22 turnovers and 9-of-27 shooting, and then Benet (6-1) surrendered an 8-point third-quarter lead to trail 27-26 on a 3-pointer by the Dukes' Mike Pedote. After Jacob Petrovic responded with a lead-changing 3-pointer in the final minute of the period, though, Benet never trailed again.

The Redwings scored the first 5 points of the fourth quarter and allowed York (5-2) only 8 points in the final eight minutes to deliver another defensive gem. Benet's allowed under 50 points in five games already.

"I was proud of our effort, but we needed to play smarter," said York coach Vince Doran. "I thought we had some opportunities that we didn't cash in on, but it's early in the year. I think we'll be much better and tougher in February."

Scoring wasn't easy for either side, but 13 total players still managed to get at least a point. Benet sophomore Colin Crothers scored 11 points, grabbed 7 rebounds and blocked 3 shots while Petrovic added 10 points.

York's John Milling knocked down three 3-pointers to score 11 points. Erik Cohn scored 7 of his 10 points in the second half.

"We gave up an 8-point lead with two minutes left on Saturday, and to come back and have a chance to pull out a win against a really good team on their home court, that was big for our kids and our confidence," said Benet coach Gene Heidkamp. "To be able to make the plays down the stretch was a good sign for us moving forward."

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York vs. Benet Academy, boys basketball

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