Benet’s Niko Abusara does his thing. The Dartmouth recruit dominates. ‘There’s really no way to stop him.’

Benet senior guard Niko Abusara does not take any opponent lightly.

His mindset remains the same, regardless of the other team’s record or pedigree.

So it was no surprise that Abusara dominated Joliet Catholic on Friday night.

“We didn’t want to blow this game off and just say it’s another game,” he said. “You just want to come out with high intensity, playing defense and doing our thing offensively.”

The 6-foot-5 Abusara did his thing — actually several things — in Benet’s 70-41 East Suburban Catholic Conference victory in Joliet. The Dartmouth recruit racked up 22 points, seven rebounds, five assists, two steals and a block in three quarters of action.

“He contributed in multiple ways, and that’s the thing about him that’s so beneficial to our team,” Benet coach Gene Heidkamp said. “He doesn’t need to score, and when he does score, it’s a bonus.”

Abusara did plenty of scoring for the Redwings (19-1, 8-0), who are ranked No. 3 in the Class 4A poll by The Associated Press. Joliet Catholic (8-8, 2-6) had little success in trying to stop his penetrating drives or jump shots.

Abusara sank 8 of 11 shots, with one of the misses being a tip, and went 6 for 6 from the free-throw line. But his deft passing also stood out, especially on long outlets to senior guard Brayden Fagbemi and senior guard/forward Brady Kunka, both of whom scored several times in transition.

Fagbemi finished with 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting. Kunka scored 11 of his 13 points in the first half to go with five rebounds and three steals. Both players added two assists.

“It all comes from practice,” Abusara said. “We’re just playing together all the time, from the summer until now. We just know our game and how we play, and it works really well.”

The Redwings played well both in transition and in their half-court offense. Abusara proved adept at whipping no-look passes to Fagbemi and Kunka for inside baskets.

“It just comes from playing with each other and then reading the defense,” Fagbemi said. “We’re both on the same page most of the time, and when we both know what the defense is doing and how we can get around it, it’s kind of easy to just dice up the defense.”

Dicing up Benet’s defense, however, has been exceedingly tough, and Abusara has played an important role at that end of the floor too. He had to guard Joliet Catholic center Anthony Birsa for most of the first half after junior forward Parker Sulaver got in early foul trouble.

The 6-5, 285-pound Birsa, a Northwestern football recruit, mustered only three points in the first half as the Redwings took a 36-15 lead. He finished with 11 points and nine rebounds.

“(Abusara) played really well,” Heidkamp said. “He set up his teammates, he rebounded and he also had to guard the big kid because we got in foul trouble. He did a pretty good job.”

Fagbemi was asked whether he knew of a way to at least slow down Abusara.

“No, he’s such a good player, and he’s so versatile,” Fagbemi said. “He can pull up in the midrange, he’ll hit a three if he needs to, he’s one of the best slashers around and a great passer, so there’s really no way to stop him. He definitely makes the whole team better.”

Abusara said his performance Friday was one of the best of his career. But he’s not about to rest on his accomplishment, and neither are his teammates.

“Coach says we just have to focus on ourselves,” Fagbemi said. “It’s not about who we play; it’s about how we play. So we’re focusing on getting better at practice every day and getting win after win.”

Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.