It was a familiar situation as of late for Streator coach Beau Doty and his Bulldogs in the final couple of minutes of Tuesday’s game at Seneca.

Streator led by eight points only to see the Fighting Irish close to within one with five seconds remaining.

Seneca had a decent look for the tying shot at the buzzer, but it rimmed off to give the Bulldogs a 54-52 victory.

“In our last three games we had the lead late and weren’t able to close out two of them,” Doty said, his team now 11-14 on the season. “Tonight was very similar to those in the final minutes. We were able find a way to hang on. We could have easily won our last four or lost our last four.”

Streator led 53-44 with 1 minute, 48 seconds left in the fourth quarter after a 3-pointer from Lavontae Morton.

Seneca then used a 3-pointer from Brayden Simek, a free throw and drive from Brady Sheedy and another drive from James Zydron to close to 53-52 with 12 seconds left.

Streator’s Joe Hoekstra then made the second of two free throws with 11 seconds left and Seneca called a timeout to set up a last shot.

After a Bulldogs foul with 5.4 seconds, Seneca got a shot from the right corner that rimmed off.

“I was guarding [Sheedy] and he’d already hit a couple outside shots and our scouting report for the game was to limit [Simek] as much as we could, so we didn’t want either of them to get a last shot off,” Streator junior Brennen Stillwell said. “I saw the ball get passed in and the shot go up and I was just thinking in my mind ‘Please don’t let that go in.’ Thankfully it didn’t.

“The last four games have been fun and frustrating, but I feel like we’ve all learned from each one. We just have to keep working on staying calm and making the right plays at the end of games.”

Seneca led 16-12 after one quarter and used an 8-0 run to start the second to hold a 24-14 lead.

Streator responded on a 16-2 run to close out the half with Morton hitting a pair of key triples.

“We have things to shore up as far as handling late game situations go, but that comes with experience,” Doty said. “This was just another chance to learn how to win, especially on the road. We got down there 10 points in the first half and then closed out the half on a 16-2 run.

“Lavontae has really worked hard on his shot. He’s confident in his shot and so are we. He had those two in the first half that were big during that run and then the one there with two minutes to go where it’s kind of like ‘Oh no, oh yes.’”

Streator led by as much a nine on a pair of occasions in the final 10 minutes.

Hoekstra led Streator with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Stillwell had 12 points, six rebounds and a of pair steals, while LA Moton and Horton each recorded 10 points. Christian Bruton added six points and four assists.

Seneca (12-15) was led by a game-best 21 points from Simek, which included four 3-pointers. Sheddy posted 11 points and seven rebounds and Zeb Maxwell 10 points and seven rebounds. Cam Shriey had seven rebounds and three assists.

“We had lapses through the game offensively, missed a number of shots right at the rim and went 3 of 10 from the free throw line,” Seneca coach Nathaniel Meiss said. ”It just was a lot of little things that added up.

“I thought we played a pretty solid game defensively, other than the four minutes of the first half. We are getting better at being more consistent from start to finish but we are just not all the way there yet.

“I’m proud of the effort and the spurt at the end to get within a shot to tie ... It just didn’t fall for us.”

Both sides are back in action on Friday with Streator traveling to take on Wilmington in an Illinois Central Eight Conference contest, while Seneca hosts Lowpoint-Washburn in a Tri-County Conference matchup.