Experienced CSB basketball starts season Saturday

The St. Ben’s basketball team has not won the MIAC since 2010, but they hope they have the pieces in place this year to make a run toward the top of the conference. The Bennies are balanced in terms of experience this year after losing one senior from last year’s squad. The team will play with four seniors, four juniors, four sophomores and four first-years on the roster going into the season and is returning all five starters.

“I like our experience,” head coach Mike Durbin said. “It’s the first time in many years that all five starters return. We have a variety of players that are capable scorers, and our team understands our defensive system.”

An area where the Bennies look to improve this season is on the road. Last season the team played to an exceptional 10-4 record at home but only managed a 5-7 record on the road.

“This season, one of our goals is to do better than we did last year,” senior post Tori Szathmary said. “Last year we were able to make some key changes in how we play that helped make us successful, so building on these improvements is a main focus for us. Additionally, improving our play on the road will be another big goal for us. Being more consistent in away games has always been a struggle for us.”

After bringing back 90% of last year’s minutes, the team looks very similar to last year. The familiarity could be beneficial.

“One of our biggest strengths this year is most definitely our team chemistry,” Szathmary said. “We are all pretty close, so our levels of communication and trust are very high this year, and we are excited to have the opportunity to build on this. Coupled with the team chemistry, the individual talent on the team is abundant. Each strength that each player brings to the team complements another player’s strength this year, so playing together is much more cohesive.”

Last season the Bennies finished around the middle of the conference in many statistical categories, including points per game (fifth, 60.8), three-point percentage (seventh, 27.8%), rebounds per game (fifth, 37.8), points allowed per game (fifth, 60.1) and even conference record (fifth, 11-10). This year the team looks to pick off the teams at the top of the conference and make a run themselves.

“I think last year we struggled a lot with the top half of the conference,” senior point guard Gabby Martin said. “This year our goal is to win games against the top half of the conference–the competitive teams like Augsburg, Gustavus, Bethel and Hamline.”

The Bennies head to Morris, Minn., this Saturday, Nov. 12, before heading directly into conference play the following weekend on Saturday, Nov. 19, in Northfield, Minn., to face off with St. Olaf. Besides the 22-game MIAC schedule, they will travel to Hawaii over Christmas break to play Worcester State and DePauw University.

“I have a group that loves to play basketball,” Durbin said. “They are very competitive, and I always know I’m going to get their best effort.”