Balanced Benet beats Warren to win the Class 4A state championship

CHAMPAIGN—Benet’s personnel was well-known heading into the season.

Seven-footer Colin Stack, 6-9 SIU recruit Daniel Pauliukonis and guards Blake Fagbemi and Jayden Wright are talented, experienced future college basketball players.

Back in November it seemed unlikely that Mac Doyle, a 5-11 junior, would play a key role in this season’s Class 4A state championship game.

But in the final seconds of Benet’s 55-54 win at State Farm Center on Saturday it was Doyle that needed to stop Warren superstar sophomore Jaxson Davis.

Doyle did the job. Davis had a two chances at a game-winning shot in the final seconds, but Doyle thwarted him on both occasions. Davis didn’t get a shot off. Warren had one last chance, inbounding the ball with 0.3 seconds left but Benet’s 6-7 sophomore Edvardas Stasys blocked the pass.

“It was tough,” Doyle said. “He’s a phenomenal player but I know I have four other guys on the court that are in help positions. It’s easy playing defense when if you get beat there is a seven-footer at the rim waiting for the guard.”

Over the past month Doyle emerged as Benet’s established defensive stopper. He limited some of the state’s best players during the Redwings’ playoff run.

“Mac is a great defender,” Benet guard Blake Fagbemi said. “He’s taken the best player out every game. It doesn’t show up in the stat book but he’s by far one of the most impactful players on the court every single game.”

Davis finished with 17 points, eight assists, seven rebounds and four steals. But he couldn’t lead the Blue Devils (27-11) to the win.

Benet (33-5) doesn’t have a superstar, but its size and balance more than made up for that, especially when the team’s defense improved after Doyle became a starter.

Stack, who is related to Jim Stack and Frank Kaminsky, and Pauliukonis both made three pointers in the first quarter. Mobile size that can shoot. And that’s just one of the factors that helped the Redwings break the streak and finally win a state title after three tries.

Fagbemi and fellow guard Jayden Wright battled foul trouble in the first half but stepped up in the second half, scoring and handling Warren’s pressure.

Pauliukonis led the Redwings with 17 points and six rebounds. Wright, a junior, had 12 points and seven rebounds and Fagbemi added 14 points and six assists.

“Warren just didn’t quit. They made it really, really hard,” Benet coach Gene Heidkamp said. “We had a nine-point lead late in the fourth quarter and they just kept coming back. We had the big stop at the end but [Warren] had tremendous players. I’ve been on the other side of this three times.”

Benet lost the Class 4A title game in 2023, 2016 and 2014. The Redwings finished third in AA in 1979.