Coming off back-to-back losses entering the final stretch of the regular season, Joliet Catholic was looking for a signature victory on its home court Tuesday night.

Time will tell if it’ll end up being signature or not, but the Hilltoppers got the win and did it in thrilling fashion.

After leading Plainfield South by 11 points in the third quarter, the Hilltoppers found themselves clinging to a one-point advantage in the final 90 seconds ... twice. JCA made the plays it needed to and sunk its free throws in the closing seconds to hang on for a 61-56 victory over the Cougars.

JCA (17-9) led for the majority of what was a close contest. While the Hilltoppers’ brief double-digit lead in the third was their only one of the night, they were still up more than one possession for a good chunk of the evening.

But in the fourth quarter, a young Plainfield South squad showed some serious fight, sinking clutch shots, outrebounding JCA and holding the Hilltoppers to cold shooting stretches. Some strong late defense and clutch free-throw shooting, though, gave Joliet Catholic the resilient win.

“Somehow we just needed to find a way to win the basketball game,” coach Adam DeGroot said. “It doesn’t always have to be pretty. Obviously, as a head coach you want it to be a little bit prettier than (it was tonight), but good teams find a way to win even when they’re not playing their best. I thought we did that tonight.

“I was proud of the resiliency. We made our free throws down the stretch, and it was good to find a way to win the basketball game.”

The Hilltoppers had lost to Yorkville Christian and Marmion the past week entering Tuesday night, just the fifth home contest for JCA all season. While there were a few turnover issues and cold stretches to clean up, the ability to close out a 4A team that’s been playing much better lately was something for the Hilltoppers to hang their hats upon.

“Coming off back-to-back losses, you’re just hoping your team can find a way to be resilient and gut one out,” DeGroot said. “They did that tonight. Hats off to Plainfield South. They just kept making big shots when they needed to the most and crashed the offensive glass.”

JCA was led by Donavyn Simmons’ 17-point outing. Jayden Armstrong put up 14.

“Getting stops on defense and turning our defense into offense (was key),” Armstrong said. “(Resiliency) is important. Tonight showed that we’re locked in going into the playoffs. We need to make a lot of defensive stops and play a good game every game moving forward.”

Plainfield South (8-18) was led by Ayden Foston (18 points), Isaiah Robertson (17 points) and Brayden Ablin (11 points).

“We have to finish,” coach Jeff Howard said. “To me, the turning point in the game was 54-53 late, we got possession, turned it over and gave up an and-one.

“It was a back-and-forth game. I’m very proud of the energy and effort we brought. We just have to finish games, but that’s all part of our learning process.”

Both teams now enter the final stretch of the season. DeGroot is hopeful that JCA has done enough to earn itself a respectable playoff seed.

“We have just a handful of games left,” DeGroot said. “I think with our overall resume, we’ve put ourselves in a position to get a decent seed come tournament time. We’re very fortunate and blessed to be hosting a regional, which is a big advantage.

“We’ll see how it all shakes out later this week.”