Danny Sobolewski immediately sensed it.
From the moment the ball left the hands of James Dockery from the top of the key, Sobolewski knew he just had one job.
With Benet down two to Naperville Central and his career potentially minutes away from ending in disappointment, Sobolewski had little time to think.
His three-point play with 1:15 left in regulation put top-seeded Benet up to stay on its way to securing a 41-37 victory over ninth-seeded Naperville Central in the Class 4A Benet Regional Final.
“I knew my career was on the line in those waning seconds,” said Sobolewski, who finished with nine points. “And I saw the ball go up and I knew I just had to go at the ball as hard as I possibly could. It didn’t get any rim and I was sitting right under it, got the rebound. I knew right when I got it I was going up. Luckily, I got the and-one.”
Dockery’s final free throw of the night with six seconds left in the game tied Benet’s biggest lead of the game as it made good on junior Jack Nolan’s game-high 18 points.
After his and his teammates only hit three triples in Tuesday’s 10-point victory over Willowbrook, Nolan hit three treys on his own during a first half that saw eight lead changes and five ties.
“Tuesday was a rough night, but I didn’t lose any confidence,” Nolan said. “I kept my confidence up. My teammates helped out with that. They were all confident in me throughout the week in preparation for this game.
“I thought they just really got me great passes in the shooting pocket, in the flow of the offense, wide open. Everything was going right.”
The Redwings (27-3) head to East Aurora on Tuesday opposite fourth-seeded Hinsdale South on a 12-game winning streak after claiming their fifth regional title since 2009-10.
“This is an important game for us, really important because of the fact that we didn’t win a regional last year,” Benet coach Gene Heidkamp said. “The regional, in our mind, is a culmination of a year’s worth of work. You get your seeds, you get your matchup – the sectional, anyone can beat anybody. Same thing in the regional, but the regional you’ve earned your matchups. The sectional, it’s the four teams that won regionals. Anything can happen in there.”
Tied at the end of the first and at halftime, the Redhawks and Redwings exchanged the lead six more times in the game’s last 16 minutes.
Nolan’s three-point play to begin the fourth gave the Redwings a four-point lead, but a pair of Matthew Meier baskets got the Redhawks back even at 31-31.
From there, Benet would claim a four-point lead again following two Dockery free throws and a Sobolewski basket, but Naperville Central (16-12) remained undaunted.
In search of the program’s first regional since 2008-09, a James Kendrick three-pointer, one free throw from Harry Hallstrom and a jumper from Hallstrom put the Redhawks up 37-35 with 1:35 left.
Moments later, Sobolewski struck at the right place at the right time for Benet as Naperville Central would never lead again.
“It was lucky,” said Redhawks’ coach Pete Kramer, whose team was led by Meier’s 10 points while getting eight from Kendrick. “We told the kids before the game, it’s going to come down to luck. They’re lucky. We got them to shoot an air ball and put the air ball back in, three-point play. Great play by them. But at this time of year, it comes down to you got to be good, you got to be lucky and they were lucky.”
Hallstrom scored seven points and grabbed nine rebounds for the Redhawks while Brandon Baskin chipped in with seven points and eight rebounds.
Triples from Kendrick and Justin Jopes sandwiched between a Dockery free throw late in the first half gave Naperville Central the biggest lead by either side at five points at 21-16.
“I thought our kids played their tails off,” Kramer said. “I thought our game plan was outstanding. I thought we executed. We made a few mistakes down the stretch, but I can’t ask any more from our kids and the way they played and executed on somebody else’s home floor.”
Dockery’s 10 points marked the only other Redwing in double figures along with Nolan.
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