Bennett carries MLK to Public League title game

SOME SEE a mountain and automatically seek the long way around. Not Greg Bennett. The Martin Luther King senior usually has only one thing in mind - climb it!

So when he drove the lane in the third quarter with only 6-9 center Mike Watkins back for Math, Civics and Sciences Charter, the decision was simple.

"I just wanted to dunk on him," Bennett said. To be clear, the foul-plagued Watkins didn't jump to attempt a block. But that didn't matter to Bennett or the crowd, both of whom erupted with emotion following the lefthanded stuff.

"I just saw the lane and took off," he said. "I was in the moment and I just took off on him."

King (21-4, 7-3) used that attacking style on its way to a 75-56 victory that clinched a spot in the Public League championship game to be played Sunday at Temple's Liacouras Center against Constitution High, a 69-65 winner over PET.

Bennett finished with 16 points on 5-for-14 shooting (6-for-6 free throws). Junior guard Sammy Foreman (8-for-16) and sophomore wing Jabri McCall (4-for-10, trey, 8-for-8) tallied 17 points each for the Cougars. Junior forward Chase Rodgers added 12 points.

Junior wing Samir Doughty scored a game-high 24 points with seven rebounds, for MC&S, but was forced to leave the game with five fouls with about 3:15 left in the fourth quarter and his team behind, 61-48. Controversy loomed, because three unofficial scorers had four fouls for Doughty, but the official bookkeeper's tally, which stood, was five.

A few players earlier, Bennett's dunk ignited King and its crowd. That's why they call him "Showtime," a nickname he earned as a freshman and sophomore at Imhotep Charter.

This season started up and down for Bennett, which coach Sean Colson attributed to the 6-3 wing trying to do too much offensively. Lately however, Bennett said his coach's advice helped.

"Yeah, I just had to stop forcing it so much and let the game come to me," he said. "He told me that the game just comes to the good players. So it found me and came to me today."

In the second quarter, Colson implored his team to feed the ball to Bennett down low. His shooting percent (35.7) won't reflect it, but the strategy forced the Mighty Elephants to make adjustments and got them in foul trouble.

Watkins (seven points, 3-for-7) was ticketed for his second with 5:10 left in frame No. 2. His teammates delivered the ball, but a combination of sloppy turnovers and King defenders slowed the Penn State commit. He did finish with 10 rebounds and four blocks. Louis Myers added 10 for MC&S (11-14, 4-6).

Bennett attempted another dunk late, but that time, Watkins applied the foul. So when did Bennett start skywalking?

"About 11 or 12," he said. "For real, I've been about this tall since seventh grade. I always could jump. My first dunk was a middle-school game in seventh grade."

The West Oak Lane resident said he's drawn some college interest from Fairfield, but also said he is focused on the Pub title game.

And with King now playing its most cohesive basketball of the season, he feels the time is now.

"That's the best part," Bennett said. "We're playing as a team at the end. It's coming toward the end, so we're coming together."