Patino, St. Benedict roll past Parker

Jon Patino had extra incentive against Francis Parker.

The St. Benedict senior guard had to sit out the final three quarters of their December matchup and watch from the bench as Parker manhandled the Bengals by 20 points.

On Wednesday night, he got his revenge. His 16 points and 10 rebounds powered the Bengals past the Colonels 44-35 in the Class 2A Holy Trinity regional.

"I was really motivated for this game," Patino said. "I had to watch the last time from the bench and that was tough."

Patino did not shoot the ball well, but he was able to get to the basket. He scored 12 of his total in the second half.

"I came in with the idea of driving to the basket, but I was tempted a lot to shoot the three," Patino said. "I settled down and went to the basket."

The Bengals (9-16) led from wire-to-wire. They held the Colonels (8-17) scoreless from the field in the first quarter. St. Benedict jumped out to a 7-0 lead and 9-1 at the end of the quarter.

Francis Parker did not score a field goal until senior forward Brian Smith (10 points, 11 rebounds) hit a jumper in the lane with 7:27 to go in the second quarter.

The Bengals led just 19-13 at the break. At the start of the third, Patino fueled a 7-0 run with a steal and three-pointer.

"We've been practicing on defense a lot and wanted to control Smith," Patino said.

Habeeb Olowo contributed 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Bengals.  Zack Johnson added eight points.

Freshman Judd Barron added nine points for the Colonels.