On a three-game losing streak, Benet came to Wheaton on Saturday morning looking to get back on track.
Behind getting three guys in double figures and stiffening up defensively in the second half, Benet secured a 63-50 victory over Downers Grove South as part of the MLK Tournament at Wheaton Warrenville South.
Colin Bonnett, Danny Sobolewski and  Cameron Graves combined for 43 of the Redwings’ 63 points.
Bonnett led the way with a team-high 16 points, with Sobolewski not far behind at 15 points.
But it was the 10 points the Redwings limited the Mustangs to in the third quarter that made their coach, Gene Heidkamp, most pleased.
“That’s what I told our guys in the locker room. That was the most important part of the game. Our third-quarter defense gave us a chance,” he said. “We didn’t think we defended them particularly well in the first half. I thought it gave us a little bit of breathing room.”
Only up six points at halftime, the Redwings (10-5) extended their lead to 11 points entering the fourth.
Thanks to the way the trio of Bonnett, Sobolewski and Graves stepped up, Benet was able to grind out its 10th victory of the season in the midst of nearly leading the game wire-to-wire as its only deficit of the game came on a Denis Alibegovic triple to open the game’s scoring.
“I thought we played fairly well. Again, with this team, every game is going to be a grind,” Heidkamp said. “I thought we did what we needed to do. I thought we were good enough defensively. It wasn’t our best game defensive game, but I give (Downers Grove South) credit. They hit some shots. They ran good offense and hit some shots. … We did enough offensively to do what we had to do.”
Benet plays Metea Valley in the winner’s bracket on Saturday night at 6 p.m.
