Benedictine head basketball coach Frank Williams is seeing his team play at a different level during the past few weeks, and it could propel the Cadets into the Elite Eight of the Class AAAA state tournament.
The Cadets (16-5, Region 3-AAAA champion), ranked 10th in Class AAAA by Max Preps, will host Perry High School on Saturday at 6 pm after defeating Trinity Christian, 65-47, on Wednesday.
If BC had been scouted midway through the season, it might have been fair to say BC started games slowly. But now the first five of senior Stephon Frazier, sophomore Caleb Jones, junior Makhai Hampton, junior Luke Kromenhoek and junior LaDon Bryant have jelled and learned to crank the ignition as soon as the 
car leaves the garage.
Frazier, a point guard who was just recently named the Region 3-AAAA Player of the Year, has taken the wheel and is driving the Cadets toward the Elite Eight. Williams said he’s playing the point guard position at a level rarely seen in Savannah or anywhere else.
“As an institution, BC takes pride in fielding high performing teams, so when we practice and play it’s not difficult to get the kids to put forth the right effort,” said Williams, who was named the Region 3-AAAA Coach of the Year in his third year at BC. “We had an excellent practice (on Thursday) and I think playing Trinity Christian helped us wake up. If we were thinking we were something, that game helped us realize we can lose.
“Our kids realize everybody is going to play the same way,” Williams added.
Williams said the winning culture at BC is an advantage, because the players are accustomed to playing in high stakes games in other sports.
“When we talk about playing hard, it’s when it’s time to go,” Williams said. “Like when it’s time to box and out and get a rebound, race someone down to prevent them from scoring a basket, time to get a steal on defense, or when it’s time to score late and break the tie. We look for that laser focus in their eyes that says they want to do this for themselves, for their family and for BC, and it permeates through the school because achievement in general runs throughout this school.”
Williams said his starters, who he calls the first five, set the tone for the team. He praised Frazier’s unselfish leadership and maturity, Jones’ elite talent level and scoring ability, Hampton’s energy and ability to finish around the rim, Kromenhoek’s work ethic and dependability, and he said Bryant is the “glue guy” 
who does a little bit of everything when the team needs it.
“We know we don’t have a lot of size, but our guys know how to play the game the right way and know you just have to work harder to get those bigger guys out of the way,” Williams said. “When our first five is playing well, we get off to quick starts. And because of the way we play defense it’s hard for other teams to recover.”
Perry won their opening round matchup over Shaw High School from Columbus, 61-54, and bring a 17-12 record into the game. The Panthers finished with an 8-4 record in Region 2-AAAA and have three players taller than 6-foot-5 on the roster, but that’s not something new for Williams and the Cadets.
“I think Perry is going to be good, and they’ve been very good since the start of the new year in January,” Williams said. “We are going to have a really good matchup against a team that seems to play similarly to the way we play, so we will have to limit their opportunities to do what they like to do best. There’s only 16 teams left so what’s the chance of them not being good? They all got this far for a reason.”
