PEORIA – On Tuesday night in DeKalb – moments after his team had clinched a second trip to Peoria in three years – Benet coach Gene Heidkamp made a declaration.
They wouldn’t be intimidated of the Simeon Wolverines.
Not wavering from the style of play it had used to get itself 30 victories coming into the weekend, Benet pulled off a 49-48 upset Friday in a Class 4A state semifinal at Carver Arena.
Danny Sobolewski’s three-pointer with 1:37 left in regulation put the Redwings in front for good as three different Redwings – Sobolewski, Jack Nolan and 
– tallied 11 points apiece.
“They were laying off me and they were playing a triangle-and-two,” Sobolewski said of his eventual game-winning three-pointer. “They weren’t guarding me at all. Got a few takes and got some other guys open and I told (James Dockery) to actually play the four. If I got an open shot, I was going to take it and I was pretty open and I was fortunate to knock it down.”
Now on a 16-game winning streak while setting a program record for victories with 31, Benet (31-3) makes their second state title game appearance in three years against Curie on Saturday.
Simeon (29-4) got a game-high 18 from Gonzaga-bound Zach Norvell, with just two coming in the second half, and it was Sobolewski’s block of a Norvell drive that helped preserve the victory.
Four misses at the free-throw line in the last minute be damned, a Norvell heave from near halfcourt with 1.3 seconds left in regulation wasn’t going to beat the Redwings on this night.
“He’s obviously a great player, one of the best in the state,” Sobolewski said of Norvell. “He put his head down and he was going to the rim and there’s really no stopping him when he tries to do that. He went up with his left-hand and I was fortunate to get a piece of it.”
After converting on only two-of-nine three-pointers in the first half, the Redwings hit four of their 10 three-point attempts in the second half.
With the lead swinging back and forth late in the third, a pair of Nolan triples gave Benet some much-needed momentum as it took a 42-41 lead into the fourth.
“I thought my teammates found me, especially with those two threes, right in the shooting pocket really well,” Nolan said. “I think they were a pretty big momentum builder going into the fourth. I think we were kind of slow offensively a little bit there in the third.”
Down by as many as four points in the fourth, the Redwings’ defense buckled down to get a couple stops.
A Malonga bucket and Sobolewski’s lone three of the game finally helped put the Wolverines away for good.
“Very proud of my guys,” Benet coach Gene Heidkamp said. “I thought they played a great game. They did some of the things they needed to do to stay with an unbelievably great team like Simeon. I think they made some clutch plays down the stretch, not only offensively but some big stops on defense. Like I said, I couldn’t be prouder. I thought that was a great game for us.”
The Redwings got off to an 18-11 lead as Nolan and Lyman connected on early three-pointers.
But the Wolverines, behind Norvell and Evan Gilyard, would end the first half on a 16-8 run to take a 27-26 lead into the locker room.
A James Dockery three-point play and another Lyman triple to start the second half for the Redwings helped sustain things until Nolan and Sobolewski’s heroics down the stretch.
[shareprints gallery_id=”56353″ gallery_type=”squares” gallery_position=”pos_center” gallery_width=”width_100″ image_size=”small” image_padding=”2″ theme=”dark” image_hover=”false” lightbox_type=”slide” comments=”false” sharing=”true”]PURCHASE PHOTOS FROM THIS GALLERY
