Back on Dec. 27, St. Anne dropped a two-point game against Manteno in the semifinals of the Kankakee Holiday Tournament.

The following day, the Cardinals gutted out a double-overtime win over Clifton Central to take third place in the KHT’s blue division.

That started a win streak that, with the Cardinals’ 60-49 win over that same Clifton Central team in Friday’s River Valley Conference Tournament championship game, has now reached 13 games.

With the win, the Cardinals (21-5) also polished off their second straight unbeaten RVC campaign, going 9-0 in conference play each of the last two seasons before winning the conference tournament.

Central (18-8) had a six-game winning streak against RVC opponents snapped with the loss.

Senior Grant Pomaranski, who led St. Anne with 18 points and was named RVC Tournament MVP, said it was nice to follow up last season’s tournament title after the team came up short his first two seasons.

“It feels amazing, and we did it as a team,” he said. “I don’t really think I deserved MVP. I think the whole team kind of does. My freshman and sophomore years, we got blown out. To come back these last two years and win, it feels great.”

If that KHT thriller between the Cardinals and Comets and the 61-56 St. Anne win in RVC play nine days later were any indication, another hard-fought battle between these teams was to be expected on Friday.

An early 10-0 run from the Cardinals put them up 17-6 early in the second quarter and had them threatening to pull away, but the Comets managed to get back in arms’ length and trail just 29-23 at halftime.

Central kept chipping away in the third quarter and cut the St. Anne lead to 40-37 in the final minute of the quarter.

But the Cardinals mounted a 12-2 run after that, a run that was started by a Brandon Schoth 3-pointer and was aided by turnovers on Central’s first two possessions of the fourth quarter.

St. Anne forced over 20 turnovers in the game, and Schoth said the team can really find success when they keep their defensive energy up.

“We’ve got to stay locked in, and our defense has to stay on it,” he said. “It really comes down to defense. Our defense leads to fast breaks, and that’s how we got our points. That’s how we win games.”

St. Anne’s lead grew to 52-39 during that 12-2 run, the largest lead of the game. It was cut back to 52-45 by the Comets with about two minutes to go, but that was as close as Central would get.

Schoth finished second in scoring behind Pomaranski with 16 points while Jason Blelye added 11 and Matthew Langellier added nine.

The Cardinals wrap the regular season against Milford Feb. 19 before hosting the Class 1A St. Anne Regional, which they will open in the semifinals on Feb. 25.

Head coach Rick Schoon, who picked up career win 501 Friday, said he feels the team is primed to make a run at its first regional title since 2018.

“They just keep getting better, and I can’t say anymore about how proud I am of these guys,” he said. “They’re playing their best basketball time at the right time of year.

“It’s 12, 13 wins in a row, and when you do that, you’re doing a lot of things right. These kids just keep doing more and more things right each game.”

Clifton Central will also host a 1A regional, which it will open against Milford in the quarterfinals on Feb. 23. Before that, the Comets have games against St. Joseph-Ogden, Iroquois West and Watseka to try and build up some postseason momentum.

Jake Thompson led the Comets with a game-high 19 points Friday. Mayson Mitchell added 10 and Blake Chandler had nine.

Head coach Brandon Schoon said Friday’s game can be a great primer for regional action, even if the result was disappointing.

“That’s a tough one to swallow,” he said. “You can’t win a game turning the ball over 20 times. Possessions matter.

“This is going to kind of give us that regional experience we’ll need going into the postseason. A lot of these guys haven’t played a ton in a regional game before. That experience of playing tough games like this is definitely something we need.”