Naperville North in the zone against Benet

Huskies' choice of zone defense does in Redwings

The words zone defense and Naperville North basketball haven't gone hand in hand during coach Mark Lindo's long tenure with the Huskies.

However in recent years, Lindo has softened his stance against using zone defenses.

Moments before Dec. 9's game at Benet, Lindo and his coaching staff were still deciding if they wanted to implement a zone or man-to-man defense against the Redwings.

The coaches elected to go with a 1-3-1 defensive look and it was a big reason the Huskies scored a 65-33 nonconference victory.

"We built our lead with our defense and finished the game with our offense," Lindo said. "This was a satisfying win against a quality team."

Lindo's teams have been notorious for their in-your-face man-to-man defenses, but this season in particular, he's been more open to using a zone look and it's played an important role in North's 4-2 start to the season.

"If there ever was a team that was conducive to using the 1-3-1 zone defense it is this group with our personnel because of its length," Lindo said. "I didn't coach zone defense earlier in my career, but I've started to come around and I credit our coaching staff for doing a tremendous job of introducing and implementing it with our players."

Benet coach Gene Heidkamp said his squad spent the better part of two practices leading into the game working against a zone defense.

"The zone didn't surprise us at all," Heidkamp said. "We were ready for the zone, but it was a good strategic move on their part because we've struggled making perimeter shots."

North's zone created a lot of problems for Benet's offense and when the Redwings had open shots they simple couldn't hit them.

Austin Wagner's 3-pointer with four minutes, 24 seconds remaining in the first quarter gave the Redwings a 5-2 lead. But from there, Benet was held to one field goal and two free throws for the remainder of the half and trailed 26-9 at halftime. Benet (2-3) made 2 of 25 shots during the opening 16 minutes.

"It is a crosstown rival and we came out fired up," North guard Danny Grimley said. "Everyone was pumped up because this game is just like playing against Central."

The Redwings (2-3) finished 11-of-51 and have made only 22 of 89 shots in their past two games - both losses in which Benet has failed to reach 40 points.

"We are struggling big-time offensively as of late," Heidkamp said. "Layups, open shots and good shots - you name it and we're not making them. You can't beat anyone shooting the ball like we have as of late, so it is something we're going to begin to address at practice."

Dec. 9's second half featured plenty of offense. The Huskies pushed the ball when the opportunities presented themselves and finished with 39 second-half points.

North placed three players in double figures as Grimley leading all scorers with 14 points. Arnas Gintautas and Joe McNicholas added 12 points each and Matt Hasse chipped in eight points.

Phil Hayes had 11 points for a Redwings team hoping to get back starting point guard Dave Soblewski, who's missed the first five games because of a knee injury.

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