The Wilmington Wildcats don’t mind playing the kind of ugly basketball the first half of their Friday night Illinois Central Eight Conference visit to Streator produced.

In fact, coach Doug Krop admits it’s sort of their team identity.

It was some pretty second-half shooting and transition play, however, that allowed the Wildcats to flip a three-point halftime deficit into a 13-point victory over the Streator Bulldogs, 56-43, creating a three-team virtual deadlock atop the ICE standings.

“We were down [at halftime], so everyone in the locker room was up, telling everyone to keep the energy going,” said Wilmington junior Brysen Meents, who finished with a game-high 23 points – 16 in the second half. “We just kept the energy going.

“The bench was good, everyone on the court was hustling ... and once we see some shots go up and in the basket, we have the confidence to keep shooting.”

Ryan Kettman added 20 points, nine rebounds and five steals; Declan Moran six points, five rebounds and two blocked shots; and Hunter Kaitschuck five points off the bench for Wilmington. The Wildcats followed up a plodding, low-scoring first half with 65.2% (15-of-23) shooting in the second half to first catch, then pass, then hold off the Bulldogs.

“We had a lot to do with that 15 of 23 in terms of lack of urgency, in transition especially,” Streator coach Beau Doty said. “I thought in the half court we did a pretty good job defending them, to be honest, but with Kettman and Meents, they have two really good, all-conference caliber players, and we didn’t do a good enough job on them tonight.”

Streator (6-8 overall, 5-1 ICE) led 10-9 after one quarter, 22-15 late in the second quarter and 22-19 at halftime before being caught on a Meents’ spinning shot in the lane just under three minutes into the second half.

Wilmington (9-4 overall, 4-1 ICE) never trailed again thanks to its hot shooting – 54.8% on the night compared to Streator’s 32.6% – overcoming Streator’s Joe Hoekstra- and Brennen Stillwell-led dominance on the boards (32-23 rebounding advantage).

“Honestly, we’re used to ugly basketball,” Krop said. “I think if you put us up in a skills competition, against most teams we’re not going to win. That’s just our nature.

“But we do have a lot of winners, kids who know how to win and have tough DNA, and that’s something that’s hard to match.”

Stillwell came out on fire as Streator built an early advantage, the junior forward finishing with team-highs of 14 points and three assists to go with seven rebounds. Hoekstra added an eight-point, 14-rebound night, with the Bulldogs also receiving nine points courtesy of LA Moton and seven points off the bench from Christian Bruton.

The loss – the Bulldogs’ first on the Illinois Central Eight loop – is Streator’s sixth in a row directly following a six-game winning streak earlier in the season.

“It’s early on, the first cycle through [the conference schedule],” Doty said. “It’s us and them and Peotone with one loss early. It’s been a tough stretch for us, but we’ve got to sit in it, live in it, hate the results, but at the same time show up tomorrow and find a way to get better.”

The road win was a big one for the Wildcats, especially coming against Streator in an environment that’s been especially tough on conference opponents over the years.

“All of our games are close ones,” Krop said, “and honestly, this is just kind of another night.”

Streator is scheduled to host La Salle-Peru on Tuesday.

Wilmington has a home game against Grant Park on Saturday before next Tuesday’s ICE visit to Herscher.