The distance from Benet’s Alumni Gym to its newer St. Ronald Gymnasium isn’t far.
For Redwings’ senior James Dockery, getting back into the routine after the program’s first game at the historic old gym in six years was seamless.
Five days after scoring a team-high 20 points in a win over Marian Central Catholic, Dockery was at it again.
Sparked by Dockery’s first-half performance on Wednesday, Benet rolled to a 63-41 victory over Carmel on a Senior Night that saw eight players score.
“We just practice sharing the ball, getting the open shot,” said Dockery, who tallied 11 of his 13 points in the first half. “No one cares about putting up big numbers or anything like that. So it’s just great that we have so many kids like that on the team.”
With the two teams feeling each other out during an opening quarter that saw the lead change hands five times, Dockery’s two triples near the end of the first set the tone for the Redwings.
His first nine points came on three-pointers as he helped ignite a 25-8 Redwings’ run to end the half to turn a 8-6 deficit into a 32-16 halftime lead.
In building the 16-point halftime advantage, Dockery and the rest of the Redwings did what they’ve done all year – play unselfish, courtesy of 18 assists on 24 baskets.
“James is playing really well,” Benet coach Gene Heidkamp said. “James is a real good player – there’s no question about that. He helps us with not only creating shots and scoring, but he’s a very good defender.
“He was in a little bit of foul trouble or he might have had an even little bit better output – he had to sit on the bench a little bit with some foul trouble. But James is playing at a high level and James really has had a great year. He’s somebody that’s been a big part of our success.”
Riding a 10-game winning streak, Benet (25-3, 8-1) clinched at least a piece of its first East Suburban Catholic Conference title since 2013 while winning at least 25 games for the fifth time since 2010.
“We feel great about it,” Heidkamp said. “Marian Catholic’s a great team, so to have a piece of it with them – if that’s how it plays out – we feel great about that. We lost a tough game at their place earlier in the year and then were able to win some tough games down the stretch.
“Nothing is easy for us this year when it came to our conference. We had some really tough games that went down to the wire and we found ways to pull them out. Couldn’t be prouder of our guys.
“It’s a great year to win a piece of the conference because there’s so many good teams and there’s so much parity. With this team in particular, we really had to play in order to be able to do it. So feel great about it.”
Its balance on full display evidenced by five players – Jason Malonga, Dockery, Danny Sobolewski, Jack Nolan and Liam Lyman – scoring at least seven points, Benet put the game fully out of reach in the third.
The Redwings ended the third on a 11-2 run to push their lead up to 24 points and they led the Corsairs (12-16, 0-9) by as many as 26 points late in the third.
Malonga had 11 of his team-high 15 points in the second half as he took the scoring baton quite nicely from Dockery.
“I was guarding (Corsairs’ senior Christopher Duff) and he wanted to shoot it,” Malonga said. “He wanted to shoot it, but not get back on defense. So when he put the shot up, I just ran and filled the lane. (My teammates) looked ahead and passed it to me.”
Duff finished with a team-high 16 for Carmel against the Redwings while freshman Jonathan Roeser scored 14.
Awarded the top seed in the Class 4A East Aurora Sectional last week, Benet opens regional play at home March 1 opposite either Willowbrook or Addison Trail.
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