Streator clinches ICE title with road win over Manteno

Manteno − The top two teams in the Illinois Central Eight Conference standings met in Manteno on Friday night when the second-place Panthers hosted first-place Streator.

After Streator was seemingly in control with a 12-point lead midway through the third quarter, Manteno stormed back to tie the score 33-33 in the opening minute of the fourth. But the Bulldogs were able to buckle down from there, holding Manteno scoreless for the remainder of the game and clinching at least a share the ICE title with a 41-33 win.

Streator improved to 20-5 overall with the win, reaching 20 wins for the second straight season, and 11-1 in conference play. Manteno fell to 17-11 overall and 8-3 in the ICE.

“We’ve got a lot of season left, and have a lot left to accomplish, but it’s nice to check off two of our goals in one night, and that’s 20 wins and a conference championship,” Bulldogs head coach Beau Doty said. “We can reset and have a day off tomorrow with no game, and get ready for one more game before our seeding and continue to get rolling from there.”

As for his team’s response to seeing a double-digit lead evaporate in the second half by closing out the game on an 8-0 run, Doty said that just shows their strong character.

“To let them score the first basket of the fourth quarter and then hold them scoreless tells you all you need to know about our team this season,” he said. “It’s the heart and pride they take on the defensive end, the pride they take in scouting and preparation, and their day-to-day approach.”

As for Manteno, Friday’s loss was a bit of a frustrating one for head coach Zack Myers. The Panthers dug a bit of a hole early on, trailing by as many as 13 points in the first half, then cutting it to eight by halftime only to see the deficit grow back to 12 early in the third.

They did manage to catch fire to close out the third and tie things back up early in the fourth before going cold again, and inconsistency is something Myers said the team needs to remedy going forward.

“We’ve just got to put 32 minutes together, and that has kind of been something we’ve been preaching lately a lot,” Myers said. “Down eight at half, and [Streator] came out and kept it a little bit through the third. We started finding that urgency and when we got it down to two there it was like, ‘guys, if we played this way the entire game, we’d be there at the end.’”

Three more conference games remain for Manteo, starting with a matchup against the same streaking Blue Devils team that downed Streator earlier this week.

Manteno was led by Ray Lee and Cooper Monk in scoring on Friday, with each scoring 10 points. Andrew Norred added seven points for the Panthers.

For Streator, Nolan Lukach was a steady presence in the paint with a game-high 15 points. Matt Williamson chipped in with eight points and Nolan Ketcham hit a pair of 3-pointers off the bench to finish with six points.

Lukach said that team will certainly enjoy Friday’s big win, but they still have their sights set on more this season.

“It’s always great to clinch a conference championship, especially in a hostile environment, so that was really fun,” he said. “The goal since day one has been to win a regional championship, and that hasn’t changed yet.”