Benet finds path of least resistance in toppling Danville

PONTIAC — Benet Academy spent the majority of the first quarter of its opening round of game at the Pontiac Holiday Tournament against Danville finding ways to make things more difficult than it needed to be.

The second quarter, however, was a much different story.

Benet scored easily and often in a dominant stanza in which it extended what was a two-point lead into an 18-point advantage as it rolled to a 70-36 win.

That victory lifted Benet (11-1) into the quarterfinal round of the tournament where it was slated to face Bloom on Friday.

The Redwings labored a bit in the early going. Benet got on the board quickly with a dunk from Colin Stack on the inaugural possession of the contest but struggled to shake free of the Vikings (3-7).

Danville would piece together a 7-4 run in the final two minutes of the period fueled by a pair of 3-pointers from freshman Amir Beasley and left the first frame trailing just 15-13.

“I thought we were sluggish in the first quarter, I don’t think we were running the floor like we normally run the floor,” Benet coach Gene Heidkamp said. “A big part of our game is our transition game and I don’t think we were very good at it. We seemed to be a step behind everything we wanted to do.”

The problem of being out of sync was seemingly corrected at the quarter break.

Benet immediately rattled off the first nine points of the quarter to stretch its lead into double digits before rattling off another 11-0 run just minutes later to push Benet’s lead near 20.

Aside from 3-point baskets from Jayden Wright and Daniel Pauliokonis almost every shot Benet took in the quarter was from extremely close range if not a lay-up. The Redwings missed one shot in the second quarter which was quickly rectified when Stack slammed home the miss. Benet would shoot 57 percent (30 of 52) inside the 3-point line in the game.

“We realized that they when they were falling back in transition they were matching up to their man instead of into the gap,” Benet guard Blake Fagbemi said. “So I took advantage of it and pushed it out a lot and my teammates ran the floor well and got open.”

That second quarter surge gave Benet a 41-23 lead at halftime and the Redwings effectively finished off things by scoring 12 of the first 14 points of the third quarter to put away the Vikings.

“It was a game where coming in I said we need 10 layups today in the game. In the first quarter we didn’t get very many,” Heidkamp said. “I don’t think we were on pace. In the second quarter and the third quarter, we picked it up a lot.”

That also translated to the defensive end. After also having a little trouble clamping down on that end early in the contest, Danville would be limited to just eight field goals the rest of the contest and the Vikings shot just 26 percent in the game and would be held to just 13 second half points.

“It was a solid win,” Heidkamp said. “And it was good to get some other guys in the game. If you’re going to play in a tournament like this you’ve got to make sure you have guys that are fresh throughout the whole tournament.”

Fagbemi and Stack led Benet with 13 points each. Stack also added nine rebounds. Pauliokonis also added 11 as the Redwings have five different players score at least eight points.