Benet puts the clamps down on Quincy to advance to 4A state tournament

NORMAL – Benet turned the ball over on three of its first four possessions in the Class 4A Illinois State University Supersectional on Monday night.

One might think that was a bad omen.

But while that was a blip for the Redwings that they quickly overcame, Benet’s opponent, Quincy, had struggles of its own and those lasted much, much longer.

The Blue Devils didn’t score for more than 5 1/2 minutes, digging an early hole they never would fully get out of as Benet punched its ticket to the Class 4A state finals with a 58-50 victory.

Benet (31-5) advanced to play Evanston (30-5) at 6 p.m. Friday in a state semifinal at the University of Illinois' State Farm Center. Quincy closed its season with a 31-4 record.

“I thought we played really good defense for three and a half quarters, but in the last quarter we were hanging on for dear life,” Benet coach Gene Heidkamp said. “They have great players and they started making shots and the big thing was we had one turnover in the last three minutes and we made enough free throws to finish it off.”

Failing to score for the first five-plus minutes of the fourth quarter, Quincy waited far too long to mount a late rally. Benet didn’t exactly run away and hide during the drought, but solid work from the foul line was enough to secure Benet’s fourth trip to the state finals during Heidkamp’s tenure at the school. Benet has finished second in all three of its previous appearances at state.

This time was not without a few anxious moments. Quincy finally found its touch in the last two minutes but was never quite able to reach a situation where it was a one-possession game with the Blue Devils possessing the ball.

Multiple players took turns guiding the effort for the Redwings. Daniel Pauliukonis shouldered the load early and finished with 17 points, while guards Blake Fagbemi (14 points) and Jayden Wright (game-high 21 points) handled Quincy’s aggressive defensive efforts by keeping possession and providing steady free-throw shooting late in the contest, particularly by Wright.

Benet attempted 21 free throws in the fourth quarter, making 17. Benet went 22-for-27 from the foul line in the contest.

“We are a really experienced team,” Wright said. “We’ve played a lot of games and we feel like we’ve been through every situation we could have been through up to this point.”

Both teams scuffled early in the contest, but Benet was able to get a little bit of a spark going as it scored the first nine points of the game and Quincy seemed largely unable to find its rhythm on offense.

Benet’s significant size advantage also was a perplexing problem for Quincy. The Redwings had a plus 10 advantage on the glass in the first half and if Quincy didn’t make its first shot attempt it likely wasn’t getting a second chance.

Quincy pushed the early Benet lead down to 11-7 at the end of the first quarter and the Blue Devils twice got Benet’s lead down to three, but Benet ran off a 9-0 run that almost capped the first half. Quincy’s Bradley Longcor knocked down a 35-footer at the halftime horn to leave Benet with a 27-18 lead at the break.

“I’m proud of the kids. I think we went through some ups and downs during the course of the year,” Heidkamp said. “And I think we are playing our best basketball right now. To win our sectional and beat a great team like Quincy speaks volumes about these kids right now.”

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