Wisconsin-Green Bay doesn`t need another hero.
It already has Tony Bennett.
Monday night at the UIC Pavilion, the Illinois-Chicago Flames left their hearts out on the floor, but Green Bay had Bennett and UIC didn`t. And that, as they say, was just about all you needed to know.
Bennett, 1991 Mid-Continent Conference Player of the Year, 1991 Pan Am Games team member and star extraordinaire-his 25-footer with two seconds left had beaten Butler Saturday-didn`t do it all for Green Bay`s Phoenix Monday. But he did it when it counted.
He scored 25 points (7 for 10 from the floor, 5 for 6 from three-point range) and finished off a 70-66 Green Bay victory-its seventh straight triumph-by scoring seven of his team`s last 11 points.
”(He) Bennett is the kind of guy who is a thorn in your side for 40 minutes,” said UIC coach Bob Hallberg. ”He always makes the big play. Just once I`d like to see him miss in the last three minutes.”
Hallberg may have to wait awhile.
This is how Bennett undid a valiant UIC effort Monday night.
With 2:40 left, UIC led 63-59. The Flames were staying even on the boards, matching Green Bay (14-1, 5-0 in the MCC) defensively and smelling an upset.
But then UIC guard Kenny Williams was called for a double dribble. Bennett nailed a ”three” at the other end.
Then Brian Hill missed on a drive up the lane. Bennett was fouled at the other end. Two free throws later, Green Bay led 64-63 with 1:14 to go.
UIC called time and worked for a good shot, but Bennett intercepted a Travon Hughes pass into the corner, dribbled the length of the floor and fed John Martinez for a layup that made it 66-63 with :29 left.
”He (Hughes) could have thrown the pass higher,” said Bennett, ”but I was ready. It was there for me, and I went for it.”
For Hallberg, whose team slipped to 7-9 overall, 4-3 in the league-three games behind Green Bay in the loss column-the defeat was particularly hard to take.
”We played hard,” he said, ”but these guys (Green Bay) won`t beat themselves. We were in control of our own destiny, but we beat ourselves. We had to have this one, but we didn`t get it. Now we`re back with everybody else.”
After Bennett`s heroics, it was all uphill for UIC, which had Brian Hill
(14 points to move into fourth place on the UIC career list), Hughes with 15 points and Williams with 12 but didn`t have what it needed-a cool customer like Bennett at crunch time.
In the last :07, Ben Johnson added two free throws for Green Bay, Williams threw in a too-late three-pointer for UIC and, after a technical on UIC for calling its fifth timeout of the half, Bennett sank two technical foul shots with :01 to go to wrap things up.
”It wouldn`t be wrong to single Tony out,” said his father, Green Bay coach Dick Bennett, ”but it would be wrong not to mention the other guys, too.”
Those other guys included Martinez (12 points, eight assists) and Johnson (seven points, six assists).
UIC, meanwhile, came up empty despite staying with Green Bay shot for shot (both teams shot 51 percent), rebound for rebound (UIC led 27-26) and clutch play for clutch play from the opening tip to halftime (Green Bay led 34-30) to the last two minutes.
And then it was Tony Bennett time.
”It was just the most interesting game,” said the elder Bennett. ”The swings, the huge plays, their defensive quickness, the clutch shooting on both sides. At the end, though, it was a game of guards (Hill, Hughes, Bennett, Martinez). There were a lot of good guards on the floor.”
None, however, was quite as good as Tony Bennett.
Dad was asked if he ever tires of seeing his son play the hero in the clutch.
Suddenly, a frog got caught in the coach`s throat.
”I love him,” he said with a smile.
