Boys basketball: Streator avenges early loss, holds off La Salle-Peru 62-57

STREATOR – While they haven’t been conference rivals in a decade, Friday night’s nonconference meeting between the visiting La Salle-Peru Cavaliers and host Streator Bulldogs was a big one, as far as late January games go.

And the Bulldogs played like it right from the start.

Streator avenged a 27-point loss to the Cavaliers way back in Ottawa’s season-opening Dean Riley “Shootin’ the Rock” Tournament, won its 18th game in its last 20 and further solidified its postseason resume with a 62-57 victory over L-P.

The Bulldogs (19-4) never trailed and jumped out to a 10-2 lead, although the Cavaliers (15-7) upped their physicality in the second half and threatened the entirety of the fourth quarter. La Salle-Peru drew as close as three points with just over 2 minutes remaining and two points in the closing seconds, but Streator - which was uncharacteristically bad at the free-throw line, shooting just 10 of 24 - held on, with free throws from Logan Aukland and Landon Muntz eventually clinching it.

“Our kids, you could tell they were ready when they walked in the gym about 5. They were loose, focused, and we knew what this game meant for us.”
— Beau Doty, Streator boys basketball coach

“We’ve been on the other side of when you blow another team out the first time and it’s a completely different story the second time around,” Bulldogs coach Beau Doty said. “We knew that wasn’t us the second game of the season. It’s been a long time since then, and we have a lot of respect for L-P and their program and obviously [Josh] Senica and [Seth] Adams, their stalwarts, they’re so tough.

“But our kids, you could tell they were ready when they walked in the gym about 5. They were loose, focused, and we knew what this game meant for us.”

Muntz finished with a double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Bulldogs, who also received strong statistical efforts courtesy of Aukland (14 points, three assists), Isaiah Weibel (eight points, three steals), Nolan Lukach (six points, nine rebounds) and leading scorer Christian Benning (18 points, five rebounds, four assists).

Muntz also held his own against L-P star big man Josh Senica, who finished with a double-double of his own with 12 points, 11 rebounds, three blocked shots and three assists.

“The whole day, I couldn’t wait,” Muntz said. “I was just pumped for the game, and I have to give a lot of credit to Coach Doty and all the coaching staff, because they give us a really good plan to go into the game. ... [Senica] is a great player, he can shoot and everything, and I was just trying to be more physical than he is.

“I can’t say I did [expect to score 14 points. I just shot when I was open, and Christian is just so good at drawing the other team’s players. I’m getting a lot of open shots, which I like.”

Adams scored a team-best 18 points and dished out five assists for La Salle-Peru, which won the turnover battle 15-13 but was both outshot (44.9%-38.3%) and outrebounded (34-30) by Streator. Jack Jereb added eight points, Michael Hartman seven and Nicholas Olivero six on a pair of second-quarter 3s.

While the Bulldogs led throughout – including 22-9 at the close of one quarter and 34-22 by halftime – the Cavaliers were never truly out of the game with their old rival, who they defeated 72-45 back on Nov. 21.

A Jereb 3-pointer with 6:06 remaining in the fourth cut the Streator advantage to 49-45, another Jereb bucket, assisted by Adams, made it 55-52 with 2:07 to play, and two Senica free throws with 22 seconds showing got the Cavaliers closer than they’d been since the game’s opening minutes, 59-57.

Streator responded on each occasion, however. A Benning third-opportunity putback with 1:52 left, a double-technical and L-P foul giving the Bulldogs two free throws and the ball on an alternating possession late and the aforementioned free throws off the hands of Aukland and Muntz ultimately sealed the deal.

Streator is scheduled to visit Washington on Saturday.

La Salle-Peru is scheduled back in action at home Tuesday against Morris.

1 of 4