McNamara advances to Sweet 16 with sectional semifinal win over JCA

PEOTONE – Relatively quickly in the Class 2A Peotone Sectional semifinal between Bishop McNamara and Joliet Catholic two key members of the Fightin' Irish attack found themselves relegated to the bench with foul difficulties.

But instead of wallowing in the potential problems of that, Irish forward Karter Krutzinger instead saw an opportunity, and it was one that he seized with gusto.

Instead of potentially finding themselves in a first half hole without key cogs of its offense, a Krutzinger led attack, where he scored 20 first-half points, McNamara went into the halftime break with a surprising lead.

After the break with its full complement of players back in the fold, McNamara extended that lead and finished off a 79-67 victory over the Hilltoppers to advance to the Sweet 16, where they will play for a sectional title.

McNamara (26-7) will play the winner of Wednesday’s semifinal between Bismarck-Henning (32-1) and Southland Prep (20-7) at 7 p.m. Friday in Peotone.

“We had the same thing happen last week,” Krutzinger said. “And that just motivated me when I saw that and I had to take over the game.”

McNamara certainly needed someone to step up. Joliet Catholic managed to build an 18-8 lead on back-to-back 3-pointers from Connor Louthan as Irish starters Trey Provost and Callaghan O’Connor each picked up two quick fouls.

But almost immediately the Fightin' Irish began their climb back into the game, scoring the final six points of the first quarter before the two teams began sparring back and forth.

And part of that sparring match was McNamara’s relentless attack in the paint. A large portion of McNamara’s points were scored on dribble penetration and if the first shot didn’t go down its vigorous rebounding efforts assured plenty of second-chance scoring opportunities.

Krutzinger erupted for 14 second quarter points, and Joliet Catholic struggled to match that offensive flurry.

“We just had some kids really step up for us,” McNamara coach Adrian Provost said. “Then we got to the second half and did some better things.”

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Bishop McNamara's Richie Darr (35) celebrates at halftime ahead of the Fightin' Irish's 79-67 victory over Joliet Catholic Academy in the IHSA Class 2A Peotone Sectional semifinal on March 4, 2025. (Tiffany Blanchette)

Those better things led to the Fightin' Irish building a double digit lead to start the second half. Krutzinger, who finished with a game high 26 points, ceded some of the scoring load to Willie Felton (19 points) and Trey Provost (12 points) as McNamara appeared to be on the verge of putting the game away.

Joliet Catholic surged to within three points late in the third quarter on on a Donavan Simmons basket, but a 9-4 run by McNamara to start the fourth quarter built the lead back to double digits. Joliet Catholic would get no closer than seven points the rest of the way.

“I think every time we got them into a shot we wanted them to take we couldn’t secure the rebound,” Joliet Catholic coach Adam DeGroot said. “And I don’t know if we were able to string together three straight defensive stops all night.”

Jayden Armstrong led Joliet Catholic, who finished 16-15 on the season, with 20 points.