Brady Kunka’s shots were falling. He was ‘feeling it.’ So it was for No. 1 Benet in its regional final.

Benet’s Brady Kunka got the ball 22 feet from the basket, thought about shooting and then hesitated.

Was he too far out?

Nope. But the defender standing on the 3-point stripe wasn’t out far enough.

Kunka rose up and swished the 3-pointer, the second of four he hit during the Class 4A Addison Trail Regional championship game on Friday.

“It was just kind of a rhythm thing,” Kunka said. “We were kind of in a lull on offense at the time, so I just kind of felt it, got my feet set and shot it with confidence.

“That’s all you really can do, and it felt good coming out.”

Kunka and his teammates had much to feel good about. The senior scored 17 of his game-high 23 points in the first half and led all players with eight rebounds as the top-seeded Redwings routed eighth-seeded Bartlett 62-38.

Benet (31-1) will play fifth-seeded Lake Park (22-10) in a Bartlett Sectional semifinal at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

“I came out, got the hot hand a little early, and that momentum just kept building with everybody on the team,” Kunka said. “We knew we would come out and just take care of business.

“This (title) was a goal of ours, but we knew it was not the ultimate goal, so we just had to take care of business. I think we did that tonight.”

Indeed, the Redwings came out firing from the start, scoring the game’s first eight points. They didn’t look back, extending the lead to 55-25 at the end of the third quarter to trigger a running clock for the second straight playoff game.

“We’ve had a couple games this year where we’ve come out lethargic in the first quarter and let teams kind of hang with us,” Kunka said. “That was a big point coming into the state tournament.

“Obviously, Wednesday and tonight we got out to big leads early and just kept feeding off of that and kept extending it, which was good.”

Dartmouth-bound Niko Abusara, who finished with 14 points, seven rebounds and two assists, got the party started by driving the left baseline for a dunk. Kunka followed with a steal and a layup, and then he fed Parker Sulaver for an inside basket.

Sulaver followed with another steal, which led to Sam Driscoll scoring on a layup for an 8-0 lead. Bartlett (18-13) called a timeout.

The strong start didn’t shock Benet coach Gene Heidkamp.

“These guys have been through the battles,” he said. “They’ve played big games all year. They have poise, so I’m never surprised when those guys step up and play like they’re capable. I thought it was a great team effort all the way around. We played great defense, and we hit the glass well.”

That was especially true on the offensive end, where the Redwings outrebounded the Hawks 9-2 en route to a 31-14 overall edge. Sulaver, who had six points and six rebounds, had four offensive boards. Kunka got three, and Abusara had two.

That, combined with the driving of Abusara and the passing of Johns Hopkins recruit Brayden Fagbemi, who had three assists, helped Kunka get plenty of open looks on the perimeter.

Kunka took full advantage. He made his first five shots and 9 of 12 overall.

The 22-footer gave Benet a 26-12 lead, and Kunka added two more baskets in the second quarter, including a 3-pointer at the buzzer off a kick-out from Abusara that made it 33-18.

Kunka contributed a 3-point play and another 3-pointer in the third quarter, during which Abusara scored eight points.

“I hit one at the end of the half, and I came out second half just kind of still feeling it a little bit,” Kunka said. “Thanks to those guys. They gave me open shots.”

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