Boys Basketball: Brayden Fagbemi, Benet turn away Marian Catholic comeback, stay unbeaten

Benet's Brayden Fagbemi

LISLE – For the first time this season, Benet didn’t reach the 58-point plateau.

With the defense the Redwings played, it didn’t matter.

Keeping its perfect start to the 2022-23 season intact, Benet stayed atop the East Suburban Catholic Conference standings with a 46-37 win over Marian Catholic in Lisle.

Brayden Fagbemi led all scorers with 20 points, including eight in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter, as the Redwings (10-0, 5-0) thwarted a Spartans’ comeback attempt.

“I think it came down to our defense and taking care of the ball,” Fagbemi said. “It was about getting stops and not giving them run-outs and easy baskets. We had to focus the entire time they had the ball and make sure we finished possessions with either a rebound or a turnover. Just stay locked in the entire possession, which coach kept alluding to.

“Our start is really exciting. It definitely builds up talk about us, but now we have to live up to that. Being 10-0 is good, but we have to get to 11-0, take it one game at a time.”

Tied at 10 apiece after the opening eight minutes, Benet held the visitors to just two field goals in the second quarter as they took a 20-15 lead into halftime. A 7-0 run gave the home team their biggest advantage at 30-17 before a 9-0 spurt brought Marian Catholic (7-4, 3-3) back into it.

The Spartans got to within three on two occasions in the fourth but could get no closer. The Redwings turned the ball over just seven times, minimizing easy basket opportunities for their opponent.

“The biggest thing was to keep defending and play with poise,” said Brady Kunka, who scored eight points to go along with a team-high seven rebounds. “Just keep playing together as a team. That’s when we are at our best. We have a really good group of guys and a lot of guys returning from last year. Our biggest strength is we play together. When we play together, it’s hard to beat us.”

Andy Nash scored eight points, and Nikola Abusara tallied seven points, two steals and two blocked shots.

Benet, which had scored between 58 and 68 points in every game before the Dec. 16 contest, has not seen an opponent get within nine points of the Redwings. That dominance soon will be tested as the Redwings head to Arizona for four games before returning home for the Pontiac Holiday tournament.

“We played well defensively,” Benet coach Gene Heidkamp said. “It was a really tough, hard-fought game between two good teams. You expect that every time you play Marian Catholic. Everything either team got was earned and we were fortunate to make a couple of plays down the stretch. We’ve got a really good group of kids and they play well together. But I still think we have a long way to go to reach our full potential. Hopefully, we have a higher ceiling. Our next six to eight games are going to be really difficult.”