Streator boys basketball coach Beau Doty acknowledged Friday’s contest against conference foe Peotone was not the prettiest game.

But the Bulldogs were able to come away with a 46-37 win in their home opener at Pops Dale Gymnasium by playing solid defense, he said.

“It’s probably not the prettiest picture of a game in terms of turnovers and fouls,” Doty said. “But I thought we set the tone with our physicality on the defensive end and that’s something we have to hang our hat on early. We’re a young team, experience-wise on the varsity level, and we’re going to get nothing but better as far as taking care of the ball and learning to execute our offense, but the thing we have to hang our hat on is our half court defense and it showed up in a big way (Friday).”

After the Bulldogs (2-2, 1-0) took a 19-15 lead into the locker room at halftime, they pulled away with two runs in the second half.

Following a 3-pointer from Blue Devils (2-4, 0-1) guard Alex Chenoweth that cut the Bulldogs lead to three with 5 minutes, 15 seconds remaining in the third quarter, he was called for a technical foul. Not only did the play put Chenoweth, who finished with a game-high 18 points, on the bench for the remainder of the third quarter, but it sparked a 7-0 Bulldogs run, capped off by a traditional three-point play from Joseph Hoekstra.

“That was a big play, it was a one-possession game when it happened,” said Peotone coach Ron Oloffson after the 3-pointer and technical that followed. “We just have to learn from that and move on.”

Doty said he liked how the Bulldogs seized the opportunity.

“You have to take advantage of it,” Doty said. “You know they’re starters are going to play with a little extra coming back in the fourth quarter. You have to play with that sense of urgency and smell it when you have a chance to extend that lead and gap them, and we did.”

The Blue Devils would climb back within seven, 32-25, at the end of the third quarter, but the Bulldogs answered with a 9-0 run to start the final quarter, fueled by five points from Brennen Stillwell, who led all Bulldogs scorers with 16. Hoekstra added 15 for Streator.

“We did the little things right,” Stillwell said. “We scouted their players, we worked on their actions in practice. We were patient on the offensive half, but defensively once we got in them in the half court, we really turned it up.”

Oloffson said he was pleased with the Blue Devils pressure defense, which caused some fits for the Bulldogs and led Doty to call timeout on at least three occasions for the offense to reset.

“We just didn’t shoot very well,” the Blue Devils coach said. " ... We waited too long in the game to play like we need to play."

Both teams struggled from the free-throw line. The Bulldogs were 15-of-31 and the Blue Devils finished 7-of-14. Chenoweth did his damage from beyond the arc, burying 5 3-pointers for the Blue Devils.

The Bulldogs were able to get most of their points inside the paint and at the free-throw line. Layzeric Moton turned in seven points, Riley Stevens five and Sharonn Morton three to round out the Bulldogs scoring. Doty complimented Christian Bruton for how he handled the Blue Devils’ pressure defense.

“A lot of my points were getting to the hoop,” Stillwell said. “I just got downhill.”

Tyler Walker contributed eight points for the Blue Devils, Nick Cronin pitched in four, Ethan McNeill three, Nate Wehrmann two and Adam Murray two to round out Peotone’s scoring.