Wayzata point guard Johnny Beeninga received simple advice from his father when he was young: Shoot when you’re open, pass when you’re covered.

So when he was stopped coming off a screen in overtime against Eden Prairie on Jan. 8, the Trojans’ leading scorer gave up the ball to senior teammate Jack Sowada, who promptly made the game-winning basket.

“I pump-faked, got the guy in the air, took a dribble and hit down a shot,” Sowada said. “It was pretty exciting.”

The game-winning assist was just another way Beeninga has lifted the Trojans, who have won 13 of their past 14 games this season. In that span the 6-foot senior scored a game-high 23 points on Jan. 29 to lead Wayzata to its first victory over Hopkins in 24 years.

“Just to know that our team was the one to do it, beat Hopkins, and [be the] first one in 24 years is just a great feeling,” Beeninga said. “But we don’t want it to be the biggest part of our season, just a step in the process. We have bigger things to come.”

Beeninga, a two-time all-conference selection and two-time team captain, started a few games his freshman year and has been a regular starter since he was a sophomore. He is averaging 15.4 points per game this season thanks to an improved jump shot. He has committed to Minnesota State Moorhead, which went to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight last year.

“He’s very quick,” Wayzata coach Bryan Schnettler said. “He’s very good at finishing at the hoop. He gets in the paint, scores and finds other guys.”

Beeninga has improved his defense off the ball this year. He also is trying to improve his three-point shot by focusing on jumping straight up and down, or in a “phone booth,” before shooting. But Schnettler said technical improvements aren’t the reason for Beeninga’s success.

“Probably his best attribute is he’s extremely competitive. You don’t get to be good at anything if you’re not competitive and don’t care about it,” Schnettler said. “Johnny, he gets mad when he loses a shooting drill, he gets mad when he loses a defensive drill in practice. He doesn’t like to lose, and if you have that as much as he has it, every day you’re eventually going to be really good, and obviously it’s paid off for him.”

Beeninga is one of eight seniors on Wayzata’s roster this season, with the team bringing back most of its key players from a year ago. The Trojans didn’t roll out of the gate, though, going 7-5 during the first 12 games of a tough schedule.

“A big part of it was we returned everybody,” Schnettler said. “Most people would think that’s definitely a good thing, which it is, but I think we also came in with a little sense of entitlement.”

After the team’s fifth loss — to Apple Valley on Dec. 30 — the seniors met and decided they needed to increase the intensity in workouts. Since then Wayzata has lost only once.

“It’s just what we’ve been doing in practice. I think guys have been more focused these last few weeks,” Beeninga said. “The beginning of the season we weren’t as much, and we weren’t as focused going into games.”

The Trojans took that renewed focus into a section semifinal game Saturday night against Robbinsdale Cooper. A victory would give them a chance to advance further than last year’s runner-up finish.

“We’re prepared to make a run,” Schnettler told his team after a Monday practice. “We’re prepared to go very deep in this thing.”

 

Benjamin Gotz is a University of Minnesota student on assignment for the Star Tribune.