Colin Stack's last-second free throw sends Benet to the 4A title game

CHAMPAIGN—In basketball, just as in life, the most important decisions come down to trust. Who will you trust when the game is on the line?

Benet seniors Jayden Wright and Colin Stack have spent years developing a special connection on the court. It helped the Redwings to the Class 4A state championship last year and Friday at State Farm Center it made all the difference in a 39-38 semifinal win against DePaul Prep.

The game was tied with 2 seconds left and Benet was inbounding the ball under the basket. Redwings coach Gene Heidkamp and DePaul Prep coach Tom Kleinschmidt called a combined five timeouts, changing plays every time.

“We changed the play 15 times,” Heidkamp said. “Their defense is so good. It is hard to get the ball near the rim with [Rashaun] Porter and [Gus] Johnson and their length.”

The final play came down to the trust that has grown between Wright and Stack. Wright threw the ball up where only a 7-1 athlete could grab it. Stack did and was fouled.

“I have a lot of trust in Colin so I just tried to put it up where he could get it, and he had a good look at it,” Wright said.

Then the hard part fell to Stack. Two chances at a game-winning free throw with 1.1 seconds left. He missed the first and made the second.

“[Teammate] Ryan Walsh said 'it is you in an empty gym,'” Stack said. “That just really went through my head. I missed the first one. Then I blocked it out and focused on the second one.”

Even the final play came down to trust. Heidkamp scrapped his plans and trusted his players.

“Ed [Stasys] came to me in the huddle and said let's run this little action,” Heidkamp said. “That is not a play we have. That was Ed and Colin making it up, and it worked about as well as it could. [Wright] made a great play, kept the ball high.”

DePaul Prep (32-4) had the best chance to win at the end. The Rams had the ball with a minute left, and the score tied at 38. They ran the clock down to ten seconds but then Benet junior Perry Tchiegne stole the ball.

“We made some mistakes and they got some baskets to tie it up,” Heidkamp said. “Then they had the ball to win it, and we had a huge defensive stop. That was the difference in the game.”Wright led Benet (36-1) with 11 points and Stasys, a 6-8 junior, finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

“We weren’t going to be able to score, and they weren’t going to be able to score,” Kleinschmidt said. “We knew that. Both sides have tough kids that are competitors.”

Benet won the rebounding battle 26-16. The Redwings also beat DePaul Prep in the Pontiac Holiday Tournament title game in late December.

Porter led the Rams with 14 points and Rykan Woo scored 11.

The loss ends DePaul’s run of three consecutive state titles. They won the last two Class 3A titles and the 2A title in 2023.

Benet will face conference rival Marist in the 4A title game at 6 p.m. on Saturday.