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

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

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

In November, it seemed unlikely that Mac Doyle, a 5-11 junior, would play a key role in the Class 4A state championship game.

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

Doyle did the job. Davis had two chances at a game-winning shot, but Doyle thwarted him. Davis didn’t get a shot off. Warren had one last chance, inbounding the ball with 0.3 seconds left, but Benet 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 7-footer at the rim waiting for the guard."

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

"Mac is a great defender," 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's related to former player and executive Jim Stack and former player Frank Kaminsky, and Pauliukonis 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 Wright battled foul trouble in the first half but stepped up in the second, 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 Class AA in 1979.

"We worked our entire lives for this moment," Warren senior Jack Wolf said. "Although it is not the finish we wanted, there are a lot of guys that ended their season weeks ago. I'm so grateful for these guys and this team."

Senior Javerion Banks led the Blue Devils with 22 points, and senior Zach Ausburn scored eight points and grabbed five rebounds.

This is Warren's third loss in the state title game, the first two coming under coach Chuck Ramsey. The Blue Devils lost to Gene Pingatore's St. Joseph team in the Class AA championship in 1999 and to Robert Smith's Simeon team in the 2011 Class 4A title game.