DePaul Prep outlasts Benet in Pontiac Tournament title matchup

PONTIAC — Benet Academy tried to draw on every ounce of remaining energy it had left in Saturday night’s Pontiac Holiday Tournament final.

But in the end there was nothing left to give.

Pontiac’s tournament setup requires teams that reach the semifinal round win a game in the afternoon then in at least in the case of the second semifinalist, return to the court just hours later in their quest to capture the title.

In Benet’s case that semifinal was a wild one that required overtime to dispatch the top-seed Simeon and likely left even less fuel in the tank than anticipated for the final.

And in the end DePaul Prep managed to grind out a 59-56 victory over Benet. It is the third consecutive season in which Benet has finished in the runner-up position at the venerable tournament.

DePaul Prep’s Rashaun Porter, who finished with a team-high 17 points, scored what turned out to be the game-winning basket with 1:26 to play in the contest.

Benet (12-2) had chances to equalize or take the lead, but couldn’t get a shot to fall and missed free throws that could have turned the outcome.

“I think it was two teams really battling, and I thought it was a really great high school game,” Benet coach Gene Heidkamp said. “You think about it and it was the fourth game in three days, both teams had tough games early in the day and guys are running on fumes and they laid it all on the line.”

Porter hit one-of-two free throws with eight seconds to play to leave the door slightly open for Benet to try to pull another rabbit out of its hat and force overtime, but the shot rimmed out and DePaul (13-1) earned the Pontiac title in their first time in the tournament.

A game that had lots of offensive theatrics through the first three quarters tightened up in the final stanza. DePaul’s largest lead was the final score and the game was tied at 50, 54 and 56.

“Every possession matters in a game like that and they made a few more plays than we did,” Heidkamp said.

The two teams traded blows in an up-tempo first half, DePaul appeared to be on the verge of stretching things out twice building leads as large as seven. Benet parried the attempt once with a long-three pointer from Jayden Wright and another just before half on a lay-in from Daniel Pauliukonis, who had 14 first half points.

Blake Fagbemi led Benet with 20 points, while Pauliukonis added 17.

Rykan Woo added 14 points, while Rob Walls chipped in 10. DePaul Prep played the entire second half without once of its leaders, AJ Chambers, who suffered an injury just before halftime and didn’t return to the contest.

The loss stung for Benet, but Heidkamp was pleased with the effort his team put forth throughout the week at Pontiac.

“Two teams that were giving it all that they had and left it all out on the floor. We came up a little bit short and DePaul’s a great team and we’re disappointed that we didn’t win,” Heidkamp said. “But we feel like our team has a lot of potential to get better.”