PONTIAC—Benet center Colin Crothers has been playing at the Pontiac Holiday Tournament since he was a freshman. He wasn’t about to allow an injury to keep him from missing the event his senior year.
“I’ve been working on getting back in shape,” Crothers, a 6-8 Johns Hopkins recruit said. “When I was injured the timeline was worrisome to get back before this. I love playing here, it is my favorite place to play.”
Crothers finished with 17 points and eight rebounds to help lead the Redwings to a 66-62 win against Danville in the first round on Thursday. It was his second game this season.
“He and [Jacob] Snell give us a pretty good 1-2 punch with their size,” Benet coach Gene Heidkamp said. “We are missing Matt Reid. He’s our second-leading scorer and rebounder. He’s at home with the flu so we are hoping to get him back at some point but I don’t know how that is going to go.”
Snell, a Miami, Ohio football recruit, had 10 points and five rebounds. Jack Prock scored 19, including the two free throws that sealed the win with three seconds left.
“Prock’s got ice in his veins,” Heidkamp said. “He’s not going to make every one of them but he’s a really good shooter. He adds a lot with this ability to space the floor for the bigs.”
Snell and Crothers are both excellent passers, whether it is interior passes to each other or feeds out to the perimeter.
“We are trying to work it out [having two bigs],” Heidkamp said. “We’ve only had a week in practice with it so it isn’t very pretty. They are two of our better players so we have to play.”
Benet (7-2) led 55-44 after three quarters but cut the lead to two points on a three from Robert Stroud with 2:46 to play.
“It’s going to be rough with this team all the time,” Heidkamp said. “We are never going to be secure and we are never going to be out of it. It makes for some exciting games. But nerve racking for the coaching staff.”
Junior Tevin Smith led the Vikings (5-4) with 17 points and Stroud had 15.
“[Crothers] did exactly what we expected, he’s a skilled, smart player,” Danville coach Durrell Robinson said. “We just weren’t disciplined early on, especially with those [Snell and Crothers].
Benet will face Warren in the quarterfinals on Friday. The Blue Devils upset Peoria Manual in the first round.
The final minute of Benet vs. Danville at the Pontiac Holiday Tournament. https://t.co/YbrbwOcfL4
— Michael O'Brien (@michaelsobrien) December 26, 2019
