Benet beats Warren and Jaxson Davis at When Sides Collide
It was the type of game high school basketball fans look forward to all season. The state’s best player (Warren’s Jaxson Davis) against the state’s best team (top-ranked, defending Class 4A state champions Benet).
The final game of the When Sides Collide shootout on Saturday at Benet was the type of showcase regular-season game that is best played at a neutral venue. But Benet traditionally hosts the event, so Warren found itself facing the team it lost to in last season’s state title game in an incredibly hostile environment.
“I might be a little biased, but I think it is the best event in the state,” Redwings guard Jayden Wright said. “Our student section shows out. It is a real, true home court advantage. I was just trying to enjoy it all my senior year. It was a lot of fun playing out there with my teammates and having a blast. And winning obviously.”
Davis put on a show with 28 points, much of which came on long-range threes. The junior also had five rebounds and four assists.
But No. 1 Benet was in control for most of the game and beat No. 6 Warren 67-60.
“[When Davis has the ball you do] a lot of praying,” Redwings coach Gene Heidkamp said. “He is really, really good. He is the best guard I’ve seen in a long time. This year he is even better. He makes his teammates so much better. You feel like you are at his mercy when he has the ball.”
Davis lived up to his billing, but Benet showed that it is clearly the state’s best team and probably the most dominant team in the area since Glenbard West’s 2022 state championship squad.
“Our guys battled,” Warren coach Zack Ryan said. “The margin for error against a team like that is really small. We got hurt on the offensive rebounds. We didn’t get many.”
Benet has a massive size advantage against most teams with 7-1 Colin Stack (11 points, 14 rebounds), 6-5 Perry Tchiegne (10 points, nine rebounds) and 6-8 Edvardas Stasys (11 points, five rebounds). The Redwings outrebounded Warren 32-19.
Tchiegne has been steadily improving throughout the season and did a nice job trying to contain Davis.
“I just wanted to slow him down,” Tchiegne said. “If we can slow him down we can play the game at our place. He’s pretty quick and pretty strong and he can shoot the ball so you have to respect everything he does.”
Tchiegne scored on two aggressive drives to the basket in the first four minutes of the game. They were crucial plays.
“We struggled early, we were frazzled,” Heidkamp said. “The crowd was a factor. Our kids were so excited to play that we came out a little wild and out of control. Perry stabilized that with a couple big plays in the first quarter. He was a big part of the win on both sides of the court.”
Wright led Benet (23-1) with 21 points. He’s the player that makes all of Benet’s parts work together so well. Senior Ethan MacDermot scored 10 points for the Redwings.
“We have a lot of confidence in our group,” Wright said. “Everyday we are just kind of trying to get better and we can see it happening. But we can’t get too high on the win. We need to stay with it.”
Senior Braylon Walker scored 13 points for Warren (17-2). Joel Paasch and Avonn King each added six points. Paasch is an excellent shooter and usually has many wide-open looks while defenses focus on Davis and Walker. That wasn’t the case on Saturday. Paasch made two three-pointers but only took three.
“We know how good a shooter he is, so it was a point of emphasis to try and limit [his shots],” Heidkamp said.