PONTIAC, Ill.—Colin Stack, Benet’s seven-foot sophomore, drained a three pointer in the Redwings’ first-round game against Lockport on Thursday.
The Pontiac Holiday Tournament season ticket holders and everyone else in the gym took notice. It’s extremely rare to see a high school player that young and that tall confidently shooting from three-point range.
Then Stack did it again in the quarterfinals on Friday against Oak Park. He didn’t miss a shot against the Huskies. Stack made one three, a few other jumpers and threw down three dunks to finish 8 for 8 from the field and score 17 points as the Redwings beat Oak Park 60-48.
“I’ve been a good shooter all my life,” Stack said.
Stack’s life has only been 15 years long. He’s part of a trio of Benet sophomores that have helped lead the Redwings to a 13-0 start to the season.
“We grateful for this,” sophomore guard Jayden Wright said. “Our best basketball is still ahead of us. This group of guys is amazing.”
Wright scored the first 10 points of the game for Benet and finished with 19 points and four assists. Sophomore Gabe Sularski has received the most attention early in the season. He scored six and grabbed five rebounds. Sularski missed the first-round game with an injury.
“I’m not going to talk about how old they are,” Redwings coach Gene Heidkamp said. “That gets overused by coaches. If you’re old enough to play on the varsity you’re old enough to play the right way.”
Benet also has two key juniors, Blake Fagbemi (11 points, five assists) and Daniel Pauliukonis, that are new to varsity this season. Parker Sulaver and Patrick Walsh are the only players in Benet’s rotation that played with the team last season.
The Redwings haven’t won a state title or even a Pontiac title yet. But the program is in the midst of an unprecedented run of success for a private school in the suburbs playing with suburban kids. The Redwings finished second in Class 4A in 2014, 2016 and 2023.
St. Joseph, which won state titles in 1999 and 2015, is the only comparison for Benet’s success. And the Chargers had several Chicago players as stars, including Isiah Thomas and Evan Turner.
Next up for Benet is a semifinal matchup against Bloom, which knocked off Simeon 45-39 in the first quarterfinal.
It was a sloppy game and was tied at 33 when Rashad McKinnie, the Wolverines’ senior leader, left with an injury.
The Blazing Trojans (8-3) took advantage, immediately going on a 10-1 run to take control of the game.
“Simeon had a good game plan for us,” Bloom junior Elijah Lovemore said. “They knew our weaknesses but we played hard to the end and figured out a way to win.”
Lovemore and Jaden Clark each had 10 points for Bloom. McKinnie and junior Lorenzo Shields led the Wolverines (5-7) with 12 points.
