Stifling Defense Sends Benedictine Men to Upset of #9 North Central

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NAPERVILLE, IL - The Benedictine University men's basketball team held the ninth ranked team in the nation to just 28.3 percent shooting to score an upset on the road

FINAL SCORE
Benedictine 56, North Central 49

THE DETAILS
• Despite starting the game 0-for-5 from the field, Benedictine found themselves trailing just 5-0 just three minutes into the game
Mike Boatright drilled three consecutive three-pointers as Benedictine opened a 9-5 lead with 15:36 remaining in the half
Benedictine led the entire way following the threes
With the game tied at 9-9, Nick Kosich opened an 8-0 run with a layup
Derrick Faulkner made the score 17-9 with 9:16 left in the half
Benedictine went into the break leading 24-22
Boatright splashed home a long triple on the opening possession of the second half and Kosich followed with a layup at Benedictine went up 29-22
North Central pulled within a point at 36-35 with 11:16 remaining before a three from Kosich and a layup from Chris Hester quickly made the score 41-35
The hosts quickly responded with five in a row to pull within 41-40 before a three-point play from Kosich pushed the lead to 44-40
Kosich nailed a big three off a block with 5:32 left to make the score 47-40
Boatright drove the lane with 3:52 to play to extend the lead to 51-42 on a layup
North Central pulled within four with 1:35 left, but defense and free throws sent Benedictine to the upset
Benedictine regained the LaScala/Warden Trophy for the first time since 2015 in the annual battle of Maple/Chicago Ave.
The contest marked the final non-conference game of the year with Benedictine notching a 4-1 mark against non-conference foes
Benedictine faced three teams picked in the top-two of their conference preseason poll (NOTE: The SAA (Rhodes) does not have a preseason poll)

STAT LEADERS
Benedictine shot 48 percent in the second half and finished the game at 43.8 percent
Benedictine led for nearly 36 minutes of the contest
Boatright finished with 16 points, adding six rebounds, four assists, two blocks and a steal
Eric Grygo tallied 16 points and six boards while Kosich contributed 14 in the win
Just one team has scored above their season average against Benedictine while all but one opponent has been below their season field goal percentage and that one opponent was at their season total
Benedictine allows just 63.5 points per game, 29th in the nation and fourth in the region
Opponents have combined for just 100 points in the last two games against Benedictine and 158 over the last three, all wins

UP NEXT
Benedictine (5-1) returns home on Saturday afternoon to host Lakeland in a conference matchup