Patience and Tempo Leads Benilde Boys Past Cooper

The boys basketball team’s early pressure and hot shooting led the Red Knights (6-3) to a 86-59 home victory over Robbinsdale Cooper (5-4) Tuesday night.

Benilde junior guard Isaiah Zierden led all scorers with 31 points, junior forward Will Dunn had 18 and junior guard Sanjay Lumpkin added 14. Senior center Raheem Tyner led the Hawks with 24 points.

“We’re really starting to come together as a team and starting to really figure out who we are,” Zierden said. “The first couple of games we were kind of searching, because it’s a whole new group, but now we’re starting to come together.”

Benilde coach John Moore said after the game that his team worked on two specific things in their last two practices: Pushing the ball up the floor and being patient on offense. Moore was pleased with the end results.

“We were patient (on offense),” he said. “That was one of the things I told them in the locker room after the game. I thought it was the most patient we’ve been all year on offense.”

The Red Knights jumped out to an 11-0 lead within the first three minutes of the game. They opened up in a full-court press and forced the Hawks to turn the ball over in each of their first three possessions.

The Hawks began to settle in over the next few minutes, however. They stopped turning the ball over and began forcing some Benilde turnovers. Cooper also started breaking the Benilde press and was able to cut the deficit to 20-16 with 10 minutes left in the first half.

Benilde regained composure by eliminating second chances for the Hawks offense and converting on open shot attempts — inside and outside — on its end of the floor. This triggered a 20-2 Benilde run over the next seven minutes.

When the Red Knights needed a spark, Moore credited junior guard Danon Briggs for providing it with his “energy” in pushing the team up the floor. With Briggs running the point, Zierden was free to play the wing, where he knocked down a number of shots inside and outside the arch. The Red Knights led 49-25 at the half.

“My teammates, they hit me when I was open, they set good screens and we really played good defense, where I could get most of those shots in transition,” Zierden said. “So I’ve got to give all the credit to my teammates.”

The second half began as if it were a totally different game. The Hawks outscored the Red Knights 13-3 to open the half to cut the Benilde lead to 52-38 with 13 minutes left.

“Our motivation (went down),” Zierden said. "I think it was just a lack of focus (to start the half).”

The Cooper run prompted Moore to call a timeout and his boys responded. The Red Knights opened up a 20-plus-point lead within minutes of the stoppage. Benilde’s lead got as high as 30 late in the game.

“We just kind of moved the ball,” Lumpkin said. “We were hitting open shots and running the floor, which really opened things up for us. We got to attack and we clicked on all cylinders.

“We’re moving in a positive direction right now. We’ve just got to continue doing what we’re doing.”

UP NEXT

The Red Knights have a road game at Irondale at 7:15 p.m. Thursday in a North Suburban Conference match-up.