Logan basketball: Joe Bennion profile

On Sunday, March 11, I interviewed Joe Bennion, a senior at Logan (Utah) High School who just finished playing on this year's basketball team. Here is the article about him that will appear in this year's Logan basketball yearbook.

Joe
Bennion:

Grizzlies’ post had a defensive role
that helped spur the team’s offense


By Bruce Smith
Matchup

The Logan Grizzlies were looking to take big steps forward during the 2011-12 boys basketball season. Coach Logan Brown didn’t know what to expect, only that it was important that the players fill roles, play with passion and as a team.

Joe Bennion was good to have along.

Bennion, Logan’s 6-foot-6 post player, looked like he was too old to play when he actually was among the youngest. During road games, fans sometimes called him “college boy” because of his facial hair.

Bennion transferred from Sky View after his eighth grade year and it was his size that was the most noticeable. He ended up being a three-year varsity player and scored 211 points in his career. But Bennion admitted that’s not why he played so much, starting in every game but the opener as a senior.

“Just blocking shots,” he said. “I was a defensive presence. I also deflected a lot of passes. I thought I was a really good defender.”

So did coach Brown, who craftily tried to put the team together like a puzzle.

“One thing about Joe is he played with all heart,” Brown said. “It was such an advantage to have him as a presence defensively. We really preach deflections and Joe got a lot of them … blocking shots.”

Brown noted that most of his team-high 45 blocks remained inbounds, too. Often, a teammate would pick up the loose ball and it led to a fast break. That helped the Grizzlies average more than 63 points per game, easily the most in Region 5 and one of the highest among Utah high schools.

“Joe really had a good year,” Brown said. “For a big guy, he can really run the floor and beat guys in transition.”

The 2011-12 season easily Bennion’s best, and not just because Logan had a 16-6 record. Growing up, he played soccer but decided in the seventh grade to follow in the footsteps of his older brother, Chris. He was 6-3 as a freshmen and that decision seemed to fit.

However, an illness or injury followed him every year – until now.

“My junior year, I got mono(nucleosis),” he said. “My sophomore year, I had the flu and was still kind of sick all year.”

As a senior, he waited for another ailment. Fortunately, it never arrived and Bennion and the team benefited.

His best-scoring game was a pair of 10-point efforts against Bear River and at Uintah. He also blocked five shots in a game at Morgan. Still, Bennion said he was at his best against Sky View.

“When we played them here, that was the team’s best game,” he said. “We had a lot of good plays. We had great chemistry and … we obviously won. The fans stormed the floor. It was great.”

It also meant a lot to Bennion because he lived within Sky View’s boundaries and knew a lot of the players.

“That game here was pretty intense,” he said. “I think a lot of people didn’t expect us to beat them, but I always thought we could.

“There was a lot of talking on the court, most of it from me. My teammates encouraged me to get into the other player’s heads.”

Playing at Sky View later in the season was more difficult for Bennion because of his history there. He tried not to let it bother him and focused on battling the Bobcats’ burly center Casey Oliverson. Bennion didn’t score, but had a team-high eight rebounds and three blocks in the loss.

Bennion said there was also a play against Herriman in the 4A state tournament he’ll never forget.

Early in the game, a Herriman player was on his way to the basket when Bennion hustled back and got one of his two blocks in the game.

“He thought he was wide open, and I just got up and hit it (the ball) off the backboard,” he said. “It was one of the first plays of the game. We wanted to make a statement.”

With the season now over, Bennion said he plans to enroll at Utah State University for a year before going on an LDS Church Mission. Even with his height, he figured his basketball career was probably over, but his memories will keep.

“We had a lot of potential last year. We had games we could have won, but had problems finishing off games,” he said. “This year, we played in a big tournament at St. George and it (the two wins) gave us a lot of confidence. It stayed with us all year.”