The boys basketball season got underway Monday with some Thanksgiving Tournament action at Manteno, and there was a little early rust to shake off for the four participating teams.

For the host Panthers, their game against Beecher was far from a high-scoring affair early on. But despite a slow start for both teams, Manteno pulled away for a 43-39 win thanks to a 17-point fourth quarter, 11 of which were scored by senior Braden Campbell.

The game was tied 16-16 at halftime, with neither team scoring for more than five minutes heading into the break, and 26-26 entering the fourth.

The Panthers opened the final frame on a 6-2 run to claim a lead they would not relinquish the rest of the way. Campbell’s 11 fourth-quarter points included a big three-point play with 37 seconds to go that put Manteno up 43-34, all but icing the game.

“It felt good to go that,” he said. “I was trying to give it my all. At the end of the day, I want to win as many games as possible, so I’m going to try to do that.”

Another key for the Panthers was not getting discouraged when the shots were not falling in the first three quarters. They kept getting shots up, and were able to knock down as many field goals in the fourth quarter (six) as they had in the second and third quarters combined.

“We were getting great looks, but they just weren’t falling,” head coach Zack Myers said. “We kept talking about trying to get to the basket, trying to get shots to fall in different ways. Then Braden stepped up for us at the end and knocked some big shots down.”

Senior Eric Eldridge added nine points while sophomore Dylan Polito added eight as a varsity newcomer.

Free throws were another area where Manteno struggled, shooting just 5 of 20 as a team. Fortunately for the Panthers, Beecher did not fare much better, shooting 1 of 12 from the line in the four-point loss.

Beecher head coach Tyler Shireman said that free throw struggles, particularly when they start early in the game, are an aspect of the game that can snowball a bit.

“You see a couple go in early, it kind of relieves the pressure a little bit,” he said. “Once some guys start missing them, everyone starts feeling that pressure a little bit. Especially when those young guys see the older guys miss them, it’s hard on them.”

Sophomore Duke Doran opened the season strong with 19 points for Beecher while freshman Wesley Haddon added six points in his first high school game. Senior Wences Baumgartner, who was occasionally the only upperclassmen on the floor for the Bobcats, had seven points.

Another team that was looking to mix in some new faces in Monday’s season opener was IC Catholic.

The Knights have large crop seniors to replace from last season’s team, the winningest in program history, and got off to a strong start Monday with a 58-43 win over Peotone.

After a close first half, the Knights outscored the Blue Devils 36-25 in the second half.

Returning sophomore Will Schmidt led the way with 13 points while junior Gael Mendoza added 10 points and sophomore and varsity newcomer Grant Bowen added eight.

“It’s a young group that we have after graduating eight seniors, and a lot of new faces this year,” head coach TJ Tyrrell said. “We really haven’t had much practice time together, and it showed out there a little offensively. Definitely room for improvement, but being able to pull out that win is the main thing.”

Peotone also has a lot of production to replace this season. The Blue Devils got 11 points apiece from returning junior starter Alex Chenoweth and junior Ethan McNeill, who is stepping into a heightened role this season.

Head coach Ron Oloffson saw some promising things, but ultimately felt the team gave a few too many possessions away.

“We’ve got to manufacture some points with the press, and we just didn’t quite score enough to do that,” he said. “There were some terrible turnovers and some really bad breakdowns, but we’re going to get nothing but better. I’m excited for our team.”