Streator’s strong start, final flurry top Ottawa in 3A regional preview

STREATOR – Saturday’s meeting between the Streator Bulldogs and Ottawa Pirates at Pops Dale Gymnasium – a preview of an upcoming regional semifinal – didn’t start off all that physical, intense or competitive.

But as anyone who follows high school sports along this little stretch of Illinois Route 23 could’ve predicted, it inevitably turned out that way.

After Ottawa had sliced a game-long deficit that had climbed as high as 14 points to just two with 1 minute, 17 seconds to play, the Bulldogs scored eight points over the final 55 seconds to pull away and even the season series with their rivals, 48-41. The two are scheduled to meet a third and final time Feb. 26 in La Salle to open the Class 3A La Salle-Peru Regional.

“Oh, yeah, absolutely,” Streator coach Beau Doty said when asked if this was a win his Bulldogs could take something from ahead of their regional rubber match with Ottawa. “You can’t worry about the [regional] matchup right now, and obviously neither team wanted to show its whole bag in terms of playcalls and things along those lines. ...

“We’re really happy to get our 23rd win, a win over a rival and keep our momentum going, 13-1 this calendar year. We’re playing with a lot of confidence and mental toughness in key moments.”

Streator (23-5) opened on fire, running out to a 23-9 lead in the game’s opening quarter and a half. Spearheading the early onslaught were Bulldogs' Matt Williamson, Nolan Lukach and Tristan Finley – the last of whom transferred from Ottawa for his senior year and hit three first-half 3s on his way to 13 points.

“It just felt good when I saw my first one go down,” Finley said. “I don’t pride myself in scoring, but if we have that need where we need that little spark, I can be that spark for our guys. Today I just had it going. Shot felt good. They were dropping.”

Ottawa (9-16) found its footing in the closing minutes of the first half, drawing to as close as two points multiple times in the third quarter. The hosts managed a slim advantage and even pulled away a bit in the fourth until a sharpshooting finish from Pirates' junior Owen Sanders.

Sanders scored Ottawa’s last 12 points and finished with a game-high 20, adding five rebounds and three blocked shots. His bucket with 1:17 to play found Ottawa down just 40-38.

The Bulldogs owned the final minute, however, starting with Lukach’s clutch putback of a teammate’s miss with 55 seconds remaining to push the advantage back to four. Free throws from Williamson and Isaiah Weibel and a dagger full-court drive and layup by Williamson as Ottawa tried but failed to foul closed it out despite a twisting, hand-in-the-face 3-pointer from Sanders with 20 seconds remaining that kept matters in doubt a few ticks longer.

“We probably didn’t match [Streator’s] emotion to start the game and obviously fell down a little further than we wanted,” Ottawa coach Mark Cooper said. “But I thought as the game went on our intensity picked up a little bit, and we were able to get ourselves back to where we had an opportunity.

“Late, we needed a play here or a play there, maybe it’s a different story, but our kids battled tonight to give themselves an opportunity.”

Williamson finished with four steals and a team-high 16 points ahead of Finley’s 13, with Lukach adding an 11-point, 11-rebound double-double for Streator, which outshot Ottawa 45.2% (19 of 42) to 34.9% (15 of 43) and outrebounded the Pirates 27-19.

Along with Sanders' big game, the Pirates got eight points from Evan Snook, seven from Aric Threadgill and six with four steals from Hezekiah Joachim.

Ottawa visits Marmion Academy on Tuesday and Rochelle on Friday.

Streator finishes the regular season Tuesday at Wilmington, Wednesday at home against Morton and Friday at Pekin.