Benet sophomore guard Gabriel Sularski’s first varsity season ended on a dark, stormy night that featured a tornado warning during the third quarter.
But his future is bright.
“He’s had some great games, and he’s had some games where he probably didn’t play as well as he would have liked,” Benet coach Gene Heidkamp said. “He played well tonight.”
Indeed, the 6-foot-6 Sularski was the best player on the floor Tuesday, scoring a game-high 25 points on 9-of-19 shooting and a 5-for-5 effort at the free-throw line.
But it wasn’t enough for the fourth-seeded Redwings to stop top-seeded Bolingbrook in the Class 4A East Aurora Sectional semifinals. Not even the tornado warning stopped play, or the Raiders, who rolled to a 67-59 victory that wasn’t as close as the score indicated.
“I think I’ve really improved from my first game to now,” Sularski said. “First game didn’t go so well for me, but I think as I got more poised, I just played within the game, trusting my teammates.
“I’ve really improved, and I’m looking forward to that junior year. It’s going to be really good.”
This season was a good one for the Redwings (27-7) but didn’t end on a high note. The Raiders (27-4) made their first four shots, including three from 3-point range, to quickly grab an 11-2 lead, and didn’t trail.
Freshman guard Davion Thompson led a balanced Bolingbrook offense with 16 points, while senior guard D.J. Strong and junior forward J.T. Pettigrew each scored 15 points.
On top of that, Bolingbrook’s zone defense forced the Redwings to settle for mostly perimeter shots, few of which fell. Benet made 4 of 23 shots in the first half to fall behind 33-18.
“They got off to a great start that just put us down,” Heidkamp said. “At one point, we were down 18 points.
“Our kids kept fighting, but we just shot the ball so poorly. I’ll credit their defense for that. It was just too tough to play catch-up against a team like that.”
Especially when the star player doesn’t get much help on the offensive end. Senior guard Patrick Walsh scored 11 points for Benet, but nine of them came on late-game 3-pointers after the outcome was decided.
Junior forward Daniel Pauliukonis scored all nine of his points in the second half and had a team-high six rebounds for the Redwings, and sophomore guard Jayden Wright added eight points, four assists and two steals.
“We had to start off a little better,” Sularski said. “That team is too good to be trailing. Unfortunately, we lost, but down the stretch I think we played a little bit better.”
Despite the loss, Sularski enjoyed playing in his first sectional playoff game in front of a large crowd in East Aurora’s historic gym.
“It felt good,” he said. “I think I played a pretty good game. We’ve just got to execute some things on defense, maybe push the ball a little bit more. But it was hard because they were hitting everything. I think they shot 60%. It’s hard to come back from that.”
Three Benet seniors who played Wednesday will not be back, of course: Walsh, center Parker Sulaver and reserve forward Ewola Moukoulou.
“I’m just proud of our seniors,” Sularski said. “They played great the whole season.”
The Redwings will bring back five of their top eight players, led by the sophomore trio of Sularski, Wright and center Colin Stack.
“Their sophomore year is over, and there’s some juniors that played a lot,” Heidkamp said. “They’ve got a year of experience under their belt. This is something to learn from.”
If basketball fans learned anything about the Redwings this season, it’s that Sularski, who won’t turn 16 until June, has earned his status as a highly coveted recruit with several Big Ten offers. He’s only getting started.
“I got a little taste of what varsity is like,” he said. “Junior year I’m going to come out strong.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter.
