Five seasons ago, Bishop McNamara head coach Adrian Provost and his wife Yvonne had the idea to borrow Taylor University’s Silent Night game tradition, where the crowd, often in festive costumes, remain silent until the home team scores its 10th point.

Now in his final season as head coach, Provost and the Fightin’ Irish kept their holiday spirits high with a 78-45 win over Bulls College Prep on Friday, remaining unbeaten in their five Silent Night games and moving to 12-1 on the season.

“We just thought it was a great event to give our kids, our student body, an opportunity after finishing exams to relieve some stress and have some fun before they go on Christmas break,” Provost said. “Every year our juniors that are new to varsity, our kids make comments on the bench because its so weird. It’s quieter than a practice when you start playing.

“But it’s been a great event. Our student body and our school has bought into it, and it’s special.”

Senior Coen Demack scored a team-high 18 points Friday, with his second basket of the game putting the Irish up 11-6 and bringing the student section alive.

“I didn’t start last year, so to be on the court for this year’s Silent Night game was great,” Demack said. “What’s the most important to me is how many are in the student section. I mean it was packed, for all ages of the school. That’s my favorite part, that so many people came out to watch us.”

Demack had the Irish off and running with seven first-quarter points. They led 21-12 at the end of the quarter and 39-27 at halftime before running away in the second half to keep the clock running in the 33-point win.

Callaghan O’Connor had 15 points for the Irish. As a four-year varsity player, he said the Silent Night games have meant a lot to him since his freshman year.

“It’s really fun to see everybody dressed up in festive attire and everyone’s cheering loud,” he said. “It’s an awesome experience. My first year in it was my first really good game of my varsity career, so I’ll always remember that one as the main one. But all of them are special in their own way.”

On the opposite end of the spectrum from the experienced O’Connor was freshman guard Jayson Benton, who got his first taste of the Silent Night experience Friday and finished fifth on the team with seven points.

Benton was playing in just his second career home game for the Irish, who have played 11 tournament games this season, and said it was a nice to play in such a unique atmosphere early in his high school career.

“It was exciting,” he said. “Middle school games aren’t like that. To play with a big student section like that was fun

“...(My freshman season) has been great. I’ve been working hard, grades are good. It’s been fun.”

Richie Darr added nine points Friday while Karter Krutsinger added eight and Ian Irps had six.

The Irish were able to get 13 players on the court in the game, sitting the starters for the entire fourth quarter and most of the third once the lead started to balloon.

With so many players seeing game action, and 11 scoring at least two points, Provost said the game provided a good opportunity to build up some depth.

“Our subs are really starting to find their niche for us,” he said. “They’re starting to comfortable with the minutes they’re getting and trying to maximize their minutes. When you can have games like this where you can play a lot of kids, it’s really good because those kids and busting their butts in practice every day.”

The Irish break a bit for Christmas but have a tall task awaiting them Dec. 26 at the State Farm Classic, which they will head into as the top overall seed of the small school bracket.

“We’re going to the best tournament in the state of Illinois in my opinion,” Provost said. “We got the No. 1 seed, which kind of shocked me. Credit to our kids, and we’re happy about that.

“... Our kids are excited to go down there. It’s always a great event, great facilities. We’ve had a good first semester and we want to go down there and finish it correctly.”