Streator uses 2nd quarter surge to defeat Plano

PLANO — After a very slow first-quarter start for both sides in Monday’s opening round game of the 61st Plano Christmas Classic, No. 5-seeded Streator was able to find its footing in the second while the host Plano just couldn’t get things going.

The Bulldogs used a 24-6 second period advantage to take control and countered every move Plano made in the second half to secure a 60-45 victory.

Streator (9-2) will now play No. 4-seeded Lincoln-Way Central at 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, while Plano (5-6) moves to the consolation bracket to take on Newark at 2 p.m.

“I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a game start with nine straight combined turnovers before until tonight, but everyone was saying the ball has bounced weird all day,” Streator coach Beau Doty said. “Plano is a scrappy team, they don’t really have size, so they are going to try and pressure the heck out of you, make things chaotic, and create offense with their defense. We were able to build a nice lead in the first half, but we knew they make some runs at us in the second half and they did.

“After a slow start, I thought for the most part we found our rhythm. I was happy with the way we weathered a few storms in the second half and took care of the ball well enough to keep our advantage in double digits.”

Streator’s Matt Williamson came off the bench to score 15 of his game-best 20 points in the opening 16 minutes. Nolan Lukach finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds, Tristan Finley added 11 points and Isaiah Weibel eight points and six rebounds.

Streator led 13-10 after one, then used a 16-3 burst to close out the half to hold a 37-16 lead.

Plano was able to slice the lead to 44-34 on a Taron McGowan layup in the opening minute of the fourth, but the Bulldogs used seven points from Lukach and a steal turned bucket by Finley to push the margin to 55-40 with under two minutes to play.

Kevin Martinez led Plano with 12 points and six rebounds, while Amari Bryant and Vinny Cesario each netted nine points.

“Streator isn’t a team that you want to dig a hole against because they are a solid and experienced group,” Plano coach Kyle Kee said. “We were just going through the motions in the first half, and we aren’t good enough to do that against anyone. The guys have some things to figure out.

“I’m proud of how we battled in the second half, but if we’d have come ready to go from the start, we wouldn’t have had to do that. We didn’t shoot the ball, especially early on, and then things just snowballed from there. I feel like not seeing the ball go through the hoop affected how we played in other aspects.

“All we can do is move on.”