Boys Basketball: Brian Bennett the key as Plainfield East tops Naperville Central

Updated: January 17, 2012 9:18PM

Plainfield East-the unknown and undefeated team that has emerged this season-owes a lot to Cal Poly head coach Joe Callero, who planted a seed in senior Brian Bennett’s head this summer.

Callero gave Bennett a list of things he would have to do if he wanted to become a Division I basketball player. High on the list was serious weight loss, and that’s exactly what Bennett did this summer, dropping 50 pounds.

He’s now a dangerous 6-9 player with a multi-faceted offensive game, all of which was on display in Tuesday’s 66-51 over visiting Naperville Central.

“My game transformed with the weight loss,” Bennett said. “But I was always able to shoot it.”

Bennett, who has signed with Cal Poly, scored 21 points and grabbed seven rebounds. He also held Naperville Central big man Nick Czarnowski to just four points.

“Last year he did really good against us, me in particular,” Bennett said. “I just concentrated on defense and we worked on a lot of things as a team, picks and stuff because we noticed he likes to dribble slow.”

The Bengals forced a slew of Naperville Central turnovers and opened the game with a 9-0 run. The Redhawks kept themselves in the game with the three-pointer, cutting various Plainfield Central leads down throughout the game, but they were never able to even tie the score.

Junior Mike Blaszceyk scored 22 points, shooting 6-for-8 from three. Sophomore Austin Pauga scored 16, shooting 5-for-7 from three for Naperville Central (10-6).

“Our defensive pressure set the tone at the start,” Plainfield East coach Branden Adkins said. “They hit some big threes to stay in the game.”

Senior Dee Brown scored 15, grabbed seven rebounds and had three steals for the Bengals (14-0). Mack Brown scored 10 and Jawan Straughter and Myles Walters each scored seven. Austin Robinson added three points and eight rebounds.

Bennett, Dee Brown, Mack Brown, Straughter and Walters have played varsity together since their sophomores year. Their class will be the first class to graduate from Plainfield East, and Adkins thinks all that time together is what has the Bengals undefeated.

“It’s unique to be able to coach guys for four years,” Adkins said. “They have bought into what we are doing. The biggest thing is how much they are willing to share the basketball.”

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