Benet Slows Down Warriors

By Matthew McClarey
Daily Herald Correspondent
Posted Wednesday, December 13, 2006

The Redwings decided to clamp down on defense Tuesday night, shifting their focus to stopping Wheaton Academy’s high-scoring offense and planning to get by with just enough baskets on the other end.

The move paid off, as Benet allowed the Warriors a mere 29 points en route to a 39-29 home boys basketball victory in Lisle.

“Every time we scouted them and every time we looked in the paper, (Wheaton Academy) was in the 60s and 70s,” Benet coach Marty Gaughan said. “I saw them play on Saturday, and we knew that (Ben) Euler was a heck of player, and obviously we put a great amount of attention to not let him score.

“We kind of felt that once he gets going, their whole team gets going.”

Gaughan’s assessment certainly seemed valid. Euler accounted for just 6 points, and Wheaton Academy’s offense never found any rhythm.

If not for the Warriors’ Joel Malmquist, Wheaton Academy (2-6) would have been well out striking distance at halftime. Malmquist scored 12 first-half points, hitting a trio of baskets from 3-point distance to keep his team within 2 points at halftime.

“He’s a good shooter,” Wheaton Academy coach Paul Ferguson said. “He’s very capable of giving us that type of offensive output.

“Joel had a great game for us. He came ready to play, he played hard, knocked down some open shots for us and had an all around good game.”

But as had been their game plan the entire first half, the Redwings (4-3) responded to Malmquist’s early scoring by adjusting their defensive focus to Malmquist.

“(Malmquist) did a great job in the first half, and we obviously locked up on him a little bit more in the second half,” Gaughan said. “He shot the ball better than we thought he would. We knew he was a strong kid and he could take the ball to the rim, but he shot the ball better than we anticipated.”

Benet essentially put the game away in the third quarter, using a 12-4 run over the first five minutes of the quarter to take a 30-20 lead — either team’s first sizable advantage of the game.

“We turned the ball over a couple times right at half court,” Ferguson said. “That’s a little bit of our Achilles’ heel. Sometimes we have a tendency of turning the ball over at the wrong times, so that really hurt us.”

Gaughan noted that after a bit of an uncharacteristic first half from his team, the Redwings settled down into a more familiar style in the third quarter, which also fueled the decisive run.

“I thought in the third quarter we played the way we want to play and the way we can play,” he said. “I thought we got some great looks inside, which I thought was a big part of the game.”