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KANKAKEE – Racing out to a fast start while facing Bishop McNamara on their home floor in the Class 2A Bishop McNamara Regional was high on the checklist of things to accomplish Friday night for the Fieldcrest Knights.
Bringing the program’s 15th regional championship in its 31-year history back to Minonk, Wenona, Toluca, Dana and the rest of Knight Country was on that checklist, too.
Check and check.
The top-seeded Knights led another accomplished program, Bishop Mac, from the opening minutes on in front of a packed house, using a 25-point first quarter to propel them to a 72-47 triumph and Tuesday’s Class 2A Clifton Central Sectional semifinal.
“It’s pregame,” Knights junior guard Ed Lorton said of the fast start. “We just come in and have a mentality where we’ve got to know we’re going to beat them. We practice every day, we shoot, we practice, we get down the fundamentals.
“That’s what it’s all about, playing basketball with your friends. That energy we bring to each other is really nice.”
“Bishop Mac is a great team,” Fieldcrest coach Jeremy Hahn said. “They have a lot of talent, so we knew we couldn’t come in and just kind of feel our way out. We had to be on our game, especially defensively, to start this game. Offense usually feeds off our defense, so to come in and stay locked in immediately in a hostile gym, great fans on both sides of the court, I think that meant a lot to the guys.
“We played with some emotion and some intelligence. It was a really, really good start for us, so I’m proud of them.”
Jozia Johnson scored nine of Fieldcrest’s 25 first quarter points and finished with 17, while 6-foot, 6-inch fellow senior guard Brady Ruestman added a half dozen over the opening eight minutes on his way to a game-best 22 points – including a pair of two-handed, exclamation-point dunks a minute apart in the third quarter, the second one extending the lead to 15 for the first time – to lead the Knights.
“We knew they’d have a full gym, lot of fans, lot of momentum,” Ruestman said of the regional hosts. “We just had to weather that a little bit, keep it close, and then once we were able to take the fans out of it a little, we just started playing basketball.
“That’s what we do best.”
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Connor Reichman (15 points), Jordan Heider (nine points) and Lorton (seven points, including five in the opening quarter) also spearheaded a Fieldcrest attack that was limited to 10 points in the second quarter to lead 35-24 at halftime, but put up 20 points in the third to carry a commanding 55-36 advantage into the fourth. Hahn was able to pull his starters with 2:18 to play and his Knights in complete control up 70-47.
Robert Hutson scored 14 points and Abner Garcia 10 to lead Bishop Mac (20-9). The Fightin’ Irish, however, never drew closer than eight points after the opening quarter.
“We were poor; our first eight minutes were terrible on the defensive end of the floor,” Bishop Mac coach Adrian Provost said. “Unfortunately, that’s back-to-back years where that’s happened [in the postseason] ... and when you get to this time of year, if that’s the end of the floor that you perform bad, that’s what happens.
“And honestly, [Fieldcrest] hit some tough shots early, and then it just gets easier ... and we could never get multiple stops. That’s a credit to them.”
On Tuesday, Fieldcrest will play Manteno, a 48-31 winner over Illinois Central Eight Conference rival Wilmington in Friday’s championship of the Manteno Regional.