When Benet senior guard Jayden Wright made his varsity debut two years ago, he was known primarily for shooting 3-pointers from NBA range.
That seems like a long time ago.
“I think some people thought that since he shot the three so well from deep, that maybe that was his signature part of his game,” Benet coach Gene Heidkamp said. “Well, I think he can hurt you off the dribble.
“It’s clear he can get to the rim, he can shoot the pull-up, and the assists to the big guys and creating is really amazing. His job with the ball is to do whatever it takes and read the defense and put the team in the best position. I think he’s done that at a high level all year.”
The 5-foot-11 Wright continued to operate at a high level during the Class 4A NIU Supersectional in DeKalb on Monday night. The Eastern Illinois commit had 16 points and a game-high eight assists to lead Benet to a 69-42 victory over Rockford Auburn.
Wright and the defending Class 4A state champion Redwings (35-1), ranked No. 1 in the poll by The Associated Press, will play No. 2 DePaul Prep (32-3), which has won state titles in three straight seasons in 2A and 3A, in the state semifinals at the State Farm Center in Champaign at 4:15 p.m. Friday. Benet won a regular-season matchup 52-43 on Dec. 31.
“I’m going to do whatever it takes, whatever is the best for that game to help us win, because that’s all I want to do,” Wright said. “So this game, getting to the basket and creating for my team is what I needed to do, so I was ready and willing to do that.”
Benet junior forward Edvardas Stasys led all players with 23 points and eight rebounds. Senior guard Ethan MacDermot, a transfer from Australia, added nine points on 4-of-6 shooting, and 7-1 senior center Colin Stack had six points and six rebounds.
Rockford Auburn (27-9) came out of the gates fast and took a 14-9 lead, but it didn’t last long. Wright found Stack for an inside basket, starting a 13-2 run that Wright capped with a power drive through the lane for a 22-16 lead at the 6:27 mark of the second quarter.
“We were a little frazzled at the beginning of the game,” Heidkamp said. “I give Auburn a lot of credit. They came out and played really well. They were making shots.
“We were having trouble stabilizing the game defensively.”
Then Wright took control.
“Jayden had a couple nice drives to the rim and kind of stabilized us,” Heidkamp said. “We started scoring the ball a little bit better, and eventually we got back to playing defense like the way we hope to play defense.”
Wright helped with that too. Auburn senior guard Amir Danforth, who will join Stack at North Dakota State, has scored more than 2,000 career points.
Danforth had eight points in the first quarter. Heidkamp then had Wright guard Danforth, who had just three baskets the rest of the way and finished with 20 points on 6-of-18 shooting.
“Jayden got switched onto Danforth, and I think that was big for us,” Heidkamp said. “We started with Perry (Tchiegne), and he did a nice job.
“It’s just the better matchup was Jayden. It was kind of my fault we didn’t start that way.”
Despite giving up 3 inches in height, Wright stuck to Danforth like glue.
“As much as (Wright) did things offensively, and he did, handling their pressure, his defense, even if it was unseen, was probably every bit as important as his offensive output,” Heidkamp said.
Wright’s offensive production didn’t dip. He made 7 of 9 shots and repeatedly diced the Auburn defense with pinpoint passes, finding Stack for two alley-oop dunks and Stasys for another dunk to beat the third-quarter buzzer.
Stasys made 11 of 17 shots, many of which were easy inside baskets off feeds from Wright, who could have had at least five more assists if the Redwings hadn’t missed so many layups. Even so, they made 31 of 45 shots.
They were all the beneficiaries of Wright’s performance.
“He’s one of the best guards I’ve ever played with, if not the best guard,” Stack said. “He finds me in so many different ways.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter.
