Boys Basketball: Benet rallies to advance at Pontiac; will face Joliet West next

PONTIAC – Most coaches can easily pinpoint what the issues were after most games.

But Benet coach Gene Heidkamp readily admitted he didn’t have a clear handle on what he had just witnessed as his team gritted out a 49-43 win over Bloom in the quarterfinal round of the Pontiac Holiday Tournament on Thursday.

“Don’t ask me what happened in that one, I’m really not sure,” Heidkamp said. “I thought we played as poorly as we have all year.”

Poorly or not, third-seeded Benet (15-0) has reached the semifinal round at the tournament and will face Joliet West, a 57-33 winner over Lockport in its quarterfinal, at 2:30 p.m. on Friday. Win or lose, Benet will play again on Friday night, either at 7:30 for third place or at 9 p.m. for the title.

Benet scuffled mightily on offense, pretty much for the entire game. Problems were particularly apparent in the first half, where Bloom (7-3) jumped out to an early 5-0 lead and Benet didn’t connect for its first field goal until nearly five minutes of gametime had elapsed.

Bloom twice built leads as large of eight points in the first half, including a 27-19 advantage just before half before a Nikola Abusara basket for Benet just before the break made it 27-21 at half.

“Their length and athleticism really caused us problems,” Heidkamp said. “We played very tentatively. I told the guys at halftime that we were really fortunate to be down six.”

The two teams traded blows in the third quarter and Benet did its best to at least maintain contact on the scoreboard after Bloom’s Jayden Watson extended the Blazing Trojans lead to eight points once again with a bucket to start the second half.

But just as Benet had its offensive struggles in the first half, Bloom assumed that role after the break. The Trojans posted just six points in the third quarter. While Benet didn’t exactly light things up, its 12-point performance including a basket from Brady Kunka, who led the Redwings with 14 points, tied the two teams at 33 each.

Kunka was back at it again to start the fourth quarter netting a basket that gave Benet its first lead of the game at 35-33.

They wouldn’t give it back.

In what passed for a flurry of scoring in this game, Benet strung together nine consecutive points to seize a 45-36 lead that ultimately sent Benet through to victory. Some late baskets by Bloom allowed the Trojans to only be outscored 16-10 in the fourth quarter but when the outcome was in jeopardy, Benet scored all but two of the contest’s points from the six-minute mark until there was less than a minute to play.

“In the second half I thought we were a little more aggressive, trying to extend our defense a little and pick up the tempo and that suited us a little bit better and we got a little momentum,” Heidkamp said. “And in the fourth quarter we played pretty well. The first half was not the way we want to play, but the second half was a little different, a little bit more like the team I’m accustomed to seeing.”