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Gene Heidkamp has been the architect at Benet of one of the state’s most respected, and best basketball programs since he arrived at the Lisle private school in 2008.

Re-establishing a program steeped in tradition that once won 102 consecutive home games in the 1980s, Heidkamp’s Redwings have won greater than 20 games in 15 consecutive full seasons since his only losing season at Benet, his first.

It’s almost become routine for his players to refer to Heidkamp, who had won 419 games at Benet coming into Saturday, as “the state’s best coach.”

All that was missing, it seemed, was a state championship.

Until Saturday night.

Benet, runner-up at state three times since 2014 under Heidkamp, is bridesmaid no more.

The Redwings built a double-digit lead and held off a furious rally to beat Warren 55-54 in a thrilling Class 4A final at the State Farm Center in Champaign for the school’s first boys basketball state championship.

Warren star Jaxson Davis, who scored four points in the final minute, slipped on a drive to the basket on his team’s last possession. On the ensuing inbounds with 0.3 seconds left, Benet’s Edvardas Stasys knocked away a Davis pass as time expired.

Benet (33-5) previously took second place in the Class 4A final to Young in 2014, Curie in 2016 and Moline in 2023. Warren (27-11), in defeat, became runner-up for the third time, joining its 1999 and 2011 teams.

SIU recruit Daniel Pauliukonis scored 17 points and had six rebounds, Jayden Wright scored 15 points and Blake Fagbemi had 14 points and six assists for Benet.

Javerion Banks scored 22 points and Davis 17 for Warren.

Benet made four threes in first quarter, Wright hitting two of them and scoring eight points. Pauliukonis’ 3-pointer in the final seconds gave the Redwings a 16-11 lead after a quarter. It was the biggest margin for either team in the first half.

Warren scored the first five points of the second quarter to tie it 16-16. Banks came off the bench to score eight for the Blue Devils in the first half, and Warren took a 19-18 lead on a 3-pointer by Owen Squires with 4:33 left in the half.

Fagbemi’s runner gave Benet back the lead, 20-19, and the Redwings stayed there, 24-23, at the half.

Fagbemi and Wright each scored four points during a 10-0 Benet run in the third quarter that opened up its biggest lead, 38-27, with 2:32 left.

But Warren scored the last seven points of the quarter, closing to within 38-34 on a Davis tip-in. Benet built the lead back up to nine, 52-43, on a Fagbemi drive with 4 minutes left.

Warren closed to within 54-52 with 55.4 seconds left on a Davis 3-pointer, and he followed his own miss to draw the Blue Devils within 55-54 with 33.5 seconds left.

Fagbemi was called for a charge at the other end, setting up the final possession.

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