Benet hands Wheaton Academy first loss

When a coach starts emptying his bench in the third quarter as Benet Academy’s Gene Heidkamp did during Thursday’s nonconference game against Wheaton Academy, it definitely is their team’s night.

Only seven rotational players on the Redwings’ roster of 22 played in the majority of their 64-39 victory, but almost everyone listed on that roster had minutes by game’s end.

“We love it because (the guys at the end of the bench) put in a lot of work, too,” said Benet junior Jayden Wright. “And they don’t get to play all the time, but they help us in practice a lot and in walk-throughs, and they deserve to get out there. So whenever we can get them in there, it’s good.”

The Redwings (8-1) fell behind at first after Tyler Smith successfully converted an and-one to give the Warriors (8-1) an early 3-0 lead. But it was all Redwings after that as they held a 19-8 after the first quarter, during which the Warriors didn’t get their second field goal until the final minute.

“I think our kids played really well on both ends of the floor tonight,” Heidkamp said. “I think they committed to defense. We knew that (the Warriors) were a very capable offensive team, and I thought we got some stops. When we get stops, it allows us to go out and run in transition.”

The remaining duration of the game that featured the starters played out much like that first quarter with Benet taking advantage of Wheaton Academy misses, fouls and turnovers. While the Redwings were not immune in that regard, they were far more opportunistic than the Warriors, resulting in a 56-25 lead through three quarters.

Three Redwings had two 3-pointers apiece, accounting for six of their eight for the game. Among them were leading scorer Daniel Pauliukonis with 17 points, and Wright, who had 10 points. Rounding out that trio was Aiden Renicker, one of Heidkamp’s third-quarter reserves who got all six of his points from beyond the arc.

Blake Fagbemi added 12 points for Benet, and 7-foot-2 Colin Stack had eight, two of them coming on a dunk.

Smith’s three points that started the game’s scoring accounted for the first of the 13 points he led the Warriors with. Hayden Schroeder had eight points and was the only player on either team to score in all four quarters.

Perhaps the most positive takeaway for Wheaton Academy was that it outscored Benet in the final quarter, 14-8, even if it wasn’t against the Redwings’ starters. And if nothing else, this game presented an opportunity to play better competition.

“This is why we put that game on the schedule,” said Warriors coach Daniel Smith. “We’re trying to play as tough (of competition) as we can to get ready for (Class) 3A regional and sectionals.”

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