CHAMPAIGN — Stephen Brown didn’t coast to the end of his hoops career.
The Marist senior is headed to North Carolina State to play football. In his last competitive basketball game, Brown delivered a ferocious effort on defense and on the boards.
That was a big factor as the RedHawks made history with a 44-28 win over Benet March 14 in the IHSA Class 4A title game at State Farm Center.
It is the first state title and first state trophy in the history of a program that has long been one of the South Side’s best. Marist joins the 1985 Mount Carmel team as the only private schools from Chicago to win state in the biggest class in boys basketball.
“This is awesome,” senior guard TJ Tate said. “Bringing back a ‘ship to the hometown … first time in history.”
Senior forward Charles Barnes Jr. scored a game-high 13 points for the RedHawks (33-5), who won their last eight games after losing 77-68 to Benet on Feb. 16. Brown had eight points and eight rebounds, while Tate added seven points, four assists and four rebounds.
Brown spent the night going toe to toe with 7-0 North Dakota State commit Colin Stack and 6-8 Edvardas Stasys, who combined for just 13 points and 13 rebounds. He and Tate also were responsible for containing Eastern Illinois-bound guard Jayden Wright, who was held to two points and two assists with three turnovers.
“Jayden Wright is one of the best guards in the state,” Marist coach Brian Hynes said. “He really hurt us on that ball-screen up on top (in the previous meeting). We had some length, we wanted to stretch it out, (we) doubled that.
“When you have a 6-7 Division I athlete who can push a guard to halfcourt and then be responsible for getting back to the roll guy at the block — it makes me look like a great coach.”
“It was hectic going back and forth but I felt like I was ready for it,” Brown said. “I’ve played against those guys many a time and I felt like I know what they were gonna do.”
Bouncing back and forth between the perimeter and the paint? Just another day at the office.
“It wasn’t really tough for me,” Brown said. “Coach told me to do it, that’s my assignment.”
Now he’s done with basketball.
“It’s crazy, it’s been a long four years, man,” Brown said. “We’ve been through a lot. I’m just excited we went out with a bang.”
Hynes said Brown’s mindset embodied Marist’s can-do attitude all season.
“He’s going (with) a full ride for football and his (approach) is, ‘Coach told me to do it so I did it.’
“That’s what makes my job easy. We just coach basketball and we have high-character kids. … To have a kid who’s been here four years, four-year starter and whatever we give him, it’s just, ‘Yes, coach.'”
Someone else with that mindset is senior guard Karson Thomas. Sidelined for weeks with a knee injury, Thomas came off the bench to score six points against Benet.
“Karson came back and gave us some… huge, clutch buckets,” Tate said. “He’s been hurt for a little minute. To see him back, it’s great to see him back and healthy.”
“The happiest (for) shots I probably was for tonight was for Karson Thomas,” Hynes said. “He’s had a tough month and a half. And when he came back he was struggling a little bit because he just wasn’t ready at this level. And to hit a couple shots, and to actually have the guts to take them … I was so happy when the ball went in for him.”