Analysis: Hinsdale South Ready for its Own Regional

VILLA PARK -- After their 61-30 victory Friday evening against Willowbrook, the Hinsdale South Hornets look toward the regional tournament.

With the West Suburban Conference Gold victory, Hinsdale South finished their regular season tied with Morton for third place with records of 16-8 , 8-4.

The focus turns to Marist, whom the Hornets will host in their own gym in the regionals Wednesday at 8 p.m.

Marist is an eighth seed for the tourney, while Hinsdale South is ninth.

“This is a very unselfish group,” said Hinsdale South head coach Vince Doran about his team. “There is not one individual who cares about their individual stats. I have 16 kids that only care about the team’s outcome. In my nine years of coaching, it has been most fun coaching this unselfish team.”

Doran said the team’s offense is run through junior center Brock Benson, who averages a double-double. The coach has enjoyed the growth of Benson in the post position as the season has progressed.

“Brock has been playing real well lately,” Doran said. “He’s been big inside, and playing much smarter. I’d say he’s one of the better players in the area. He reads the ‘D’ well and lets the game come to him. He’s just an intelligent kid.”

Last year the Hornets hit the road for the regional tournament when they played at Mount Carmel.

The seeds are so close that the game could be very well won by with the intensity of the hometown crowd.

“We have to play hard and get wins on our home court,” said Hinsdale South senior Romund Duffie who finished with eight points, four rebounds and two steals in the win at Willowbrook. “We got guys that hustle all 32 minutes and, with that, I think we should be fine.”

“We play really tough and have good shooters,” said Hinsdale South senior Stephen Scott added, who plans to attend University of Dayton next year. “Depth-wise, I think we’re a little bit better [than Marist]. We also have height, which will be a big advantage.”

Since the regional seedings were set before Hinsdale South played Willowbrook, Doran held practice in the classroom as much as on the court. Doran feels that Marist matches up well with the Hornets, and he looks for a game full of fireworks.

“We expect a pretty intense atmosphere,” said Hinsdale South junior Phil George. “Being at home is going to motivate us. We’ve met our expectations pretty much this year and it’s been nice with Brock getting better through the season.”

“We know they’ve got explosive players but we have a really talented team. We know we’ll have our hands full.”


“We’re not going to have any deviation or differences to our game plan against Marist,” Doran said.

“[Hinsdale South and Marist] are two programs that do things in similar ways. They know what we’ll do against them, and vice versa. I got a lot of respect for Marist."

Did you know: Many of the Hinsdale South players are on the A honor roll, including junior Brock Benson 5.2 GPA, seniors Keith Reidy 4.7 GPA (who will attend the University of Chicago next fall) and  Andy Nkansah 5.4 GPA (headed to West Point).