For almost the entire first three quarters, Joliet West fought three-time state champion DePaul Prep to a standstill at the Pontiac Holiday Tournament.

But almost wasn’t enough.

During a pair of one minute stretches in the second and third quarters, DePaul Prep got a burst of offensive productivity, fueling it to a 63-36 victory that the Rams had to work harder for than that score would make it appear.

The Tigers (7-5) drop into Pontiac’s fifth place bracket, where it will face Homewood-Flossmoor at 9:30 a.m. on Wednedsay.

The two teams traded punches early on, and when sophomore Abrey Robinson was fouled on a 3-point attempt and promptly knocked down all three of his free throws, the Tigers were tied with the tournament’s top seed at 17.

Robinson would later hit a 3-pointer to keep the Tigers within reach of the lead and Aamir Shannon’s basket with just under two minutes to play in the first half had DePaul clinging to a one-point lead (23-22).

But DePaul Prep did what top teams tend to do and put the clamps down and turned the final 30 seconds of the half into a horror show for Joliet West.

Zion Lee answered Shannon’s basket and then consecutive turnovers by Joliet West led to a 3-pointer from Blake Choice and a 10-foot runner from AJ Chambers at the horn.

When the dust cleared, DePaul had a 30-22 halftime lead.

“If you go into halftime, 23-22, the nature of their halftime talk is so different,” Joliet West coach Jeremy Kreiger said. “While they know what to say and do, they haven’t been there a lot because they haven’t been there a lot.

“If we would have managed that, there’s a different belief in what we’re trying to do. What we call, irrational confidence that we belong here even knowing what they have. There were so many teachable moments in what happened that we are trying to get them through.”

Another six-point run one minute surge midway through the third quarter pushed DePaul Prep’s lead into double digits, which is almost an impossible hole for almost anyone to try to dig out against a team as talented as a disciplined as the defending IHSA Class 3A State champions. Adding insult to injury was a 70-foot shot made by AJ Chambers (15 points) at the end of the third quarter. DePaul Prep outscored Joliet West 33-14 in the second half.

Those short bursts of excellence from the Rams were an eye-opener and hopefully a lesson for the Tigers.

“Those possessions definitely matter,” Joliet West’s Brock Goehrke said. “Especially with momentum going into the second half and that really hurt us a lot.

“We can compete at the highest level but we have to be more consistent with the little things.”

Shannon led Joliet West with 14 points. Goehrke, whose trio of 3-pointers in the first half helped keep Joliet West afloat finished with 11.