Jack Haynes’ double-double leads Streator past Putnam County

GRANVILLE – It was Hall of Fame Night at Putnam County as the Panther faithful saw the 2008 baseball team and Mandi (Cioni) Perko enshrined into the school’s hall.

While not quite yet at the level of the aforementioned team and person, Streator senior Jack Haynes certainly left a huge impression on all of those in attendance Saturday at R.M. Germano Gymnasium.

Haynes recorded double-double of 26 points and 14 rebounds as the Bulldogs slowly but surely pulled away to defeat the Panthers 60-46 during a non-conference contest.

Streator (6-3) also received solid contributions from sophomore standout Christian Benning (13 points) and senior Davey Rashid (seven points) as the Bulldogs shot a healthy 20-of-45 (44 percent) from the floor, including 5-of-9 (56 percent) from 3-point land in the third quarter that helped ice the victory along with some staunch man-to-man defense.

“We were coming off a disappointing loss to Ottawa last Saturday and had to wait a week to play tonight because of COVID concerns with Coal City,” SHS coach Beau Doty said. “So give our kids a lot of credit for stepping up tonight to perform so well against a very good Putnam County team. Jack (Haynes) did a great job and felt like he had a bad first half. But at halftime I told him he had 15 points and a bunch of rebounds so I was very proud of him and all our guys’ efforts both offensively and defensively.”

The Bulldogs held PC leading scorer Jackson McDonald to just six points as he was strapped with four fouls midway through the second quarter and played limited minutes from then on before fouling out late in the fourth quarter.

During McDonald’s prolonged absence, the Panthers (7-8) received a team-best 13 points from junior Austin Mattingly and nine tallies off the hands of senior Drake Smith.

PC shot almost even (19-of-43, 44 percent) with Streator from the field but turned the ball over 20 times, including 14 times in the first half along with 14 fouls, which helped lead to its demise.

“I told the kids at halftime the reason why we had 14 fouls in the first half is because we weren’t in spots and we did foul, no doubt,” PC coach Harold Fay said. “We didn’t do ourselves any favors either by turning the ball over so many times that early. But credit Streator and their big man (Haynes). They also hit a bunch of 3s in the third quarter that really put the game away and we could never catch up.”

Throughout a low scoring first period the Bulldogs led 9-6.

But Haynes came alive in the second stanza, pouring in 13 low-post points to give him 15 at the half as the visitors owned a 25-21 lead at the break.

“I actually was very frustrated with my first half performance,” Haynes said. “I don’t know why because I had a talk with my coaches at halftime and they told me to relax because I did a good job against some great defense that Putnam County was playing against me. Then after that, we kind of switched it up from inside offense to outside.”

The Bulldogs did that in a big way.

After shooting 0-of-9 triples in the first half, Streator came out on fire in the third period, nailing 5-of-9.

Haynes started the barrage with a left-baseline triple at 6:45 that was quickly followed by bombs by Rashid and senior Blake Ewing at 6:20 and 5:35, respectively, that bolted Streator from a 27-24 lead to a 36-24 advantage just 70 seconds later.

Benning and Alex Ward closed out the Streator 3 ball parade later in the quarter as the Bulldogs took a 46-34 lead into the last eight minutes.

PC got no closer than a nine-point deficit midway through the final frame before the benches emptied with Panther fan favorite Blake Baker hitting the last 3-pointer of the game as time expired.