NORMAL, Illinois — Everyone knows about Benet junior guard Jayden Wright’s 3-point shooting prowess by now.
But beyond the arc isn’t the only area where Wright is proficient. Take free-throw shooting. Might he be the Redwings’ best shooter from the line?
“Yeah, I would say so,” Benet senior point guard Blake Fagbemi said. “We practice free throws all the time, and he’s a natural shooter, so free throws come along with that.”
But Wright had never shot so many and with such accuracy as he did Monday night. He scored a game-high 21 points, including a 14-for-15 effort from the line, to lead the Redwings to a 58-50 victory over favored Quincy in the Class 4A ISU Supersectional at CEFCU Arena in Normal.
“He was great,” Benet coach Gene Heidkamp said. “I didn’t realize it was 14 of 15, but Jayden is an experienced kid.
“Even though he’s only a junior, he’s played in a lot of big games. He stepped up in a big game and made it count, so I’m proud of him.”
The Redwings (31-5), who will play Evanston (30-5) in the state semifinals at the State Farm Center in Champaign at 6 p.m. Friday, led Quincy (31-4) wire to wire. They jumped out to a 9-0 lead and led by as many as 13 points on the strength of terrific defense that twice held the Blue Devils scoreless for nearly six minutes.
Senior forward Daniel Pauliukonis, a Southern Illinois recruit, had 17 points and six rebounds for Benet. Fagbemi, a Truman State commit, added 14 points, eight rebounds and five assists.
But as their lead shrank in the final minutes, the Redwings most often got the ball in Wright’s hands, not Fagbemi’s. While the din in the arena got ever louder, there was only silence in Wright’s head.
“To be honest, when I’m at the free-throw line, I don’t really hear anything,” he said. “It’s just me. It’s all about focus and all the work I’ve put in. I feel confident shooting them.”
The Redwings felt confident after Wright’s two free throws gave them a 45-32 cushion with 2:29 remaining. They stayed that way even as Quincy senior guard Bradley Longcor, a Santa Clara recruit, scored 10 of his team-high 17 points in the final 2:16, including two free throws that cut Benet’s lead to 53-50 with 31.6 seconds left.
“We’re always confident,” Wright said. “We’re never going to play not to lose. We’re always going to play to win, play aggressive. We’re never going to get tight.”
If ever there was a time for Wright to get tight, it was when the Blue Devils fouled him immediately after Longcor’s free throws. Wright calmly made both foul shots.
Pauliukonis followed with a steal and passed to Wright, who was fouled and sank another pair of free throws with 19.1 seconds left. That made it 57-50 and sealed the game, just as Fagbemi knew the Redwings would do.
“We had to stay calm,” Fagbemi said. “We knew that if we put one or two stops together that eventually we were going to push out that lead.”
That’s been a theme for the Redwings this season. They usually find a way to do what needs to be done.
“We’re a really experienced team,” Wright said. “We’ve played in almost every game you could play, and now we’re doing pretty much the same thing every day. So we feel like we’ve been through every situation that we could have been through up to this point.”
The victory earned the Redwings their ninth trip to the state finals and fourth under Heidkamp. But it will be the first semifinal appearance for everyone on the roster.
“It always feels great,” Heidkamp said. “I’m happy for our kids.
“It’s been a long year, and for the kids to get this opportunity I think says a lot about them. It’s always nice to get down, but you always think about the kids that are involved and the opportunity to experience this for them.”
The prospect of that experience is what drove the Redwings against Quincy.
“We played our butts off,” Wright said. “We knew that could have been our last game. We didn’t want it to be our last game, so we left it all out there.
“The coaches prepared us really well, we had a good game plan, and we went out there and executed it.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter.
