Benet relies on its defense
Six-foot-eight Benet sophomore Colin Crothers nabbed a steal near midcourt, raced down the floor, spun around a defender and gently laid the ball through the net.
On a rough night for offense, it was a sight for sore eyes.
The Redwings barely reached the 40s, but it was enough to claim Wednesday's 41-34 nonconference boys basketball victory over Lake Forest in Lisle.
The nifty move by Crothers came midway through a 9-0 run that began the second half and gave Benet (8-2) a double-digit lead it never relinquished. Lake Forest (3-7) narrowed the gap to 3 points in the game's final two minutes, but Jake Ronneberg knocked down four free throws and David Buh added two more to keep Benet safely ahead.
“We knew the offense would come if we just put together stops on defense,” said Crothers, who scored 8 of his game-high 12 points in the third quarter. “The halftime talk was all about how our defense needed to be better.”
Strong defense is a tradition with Benet, but this season it's become a necessity. As the Redwings made 12 of 33 shots from the field, none in the last five minutes, they needed every single stop.
“It was a battle,” said Benet coach Gene Heidkamp. “They played really hard and we knew it was going to be that type of game. We knew it was going to be a struggle to score points. I thought the third quarter was the difference for us.”
Ronneberg's 3-pointer in the waning seconds of the second quarter gave Benet a 19-16 halftime lead. Next came the 11-2 third quarter that featured 6 turnovers by Lake Forest and pushed the advantage to 30-18 heading to the fourth quarter.
Ronneberg scored 10 points and Will Engels had 8 points for Benet. Ben Gibson led Lake Forest with 8 points before fouling out.
“Our defense gave us the energy in the third quarter and that's what really sparked our run,” Ronneberg said. “We were able to turn our defense into offense.”
Follow Kevin on Twitter