Boys basketball: Solid Streator effort not enough to keep up with top-ranked Metamora

WASHINGTON – The Streator Bulldogs played a pretty solid game Wednesday in their Class 3A Washington Regional semifinal, shooting 41.7%, committing only a half-dozen turnovers through three quarters, and riding a game-best 25-point effort from leading scorer/ matchup nightmare Christian Benning.

And the Bulldogs still lost 77-46.

Metamora, winners of 26 straight games, the subsectional’s top seed, and tied for No. 1-ranked team in Class 3A in the season’s final Associated Press poll, was just that good.

Streator (17-13) kept the score respectable for most of the night, not allowing the deficit to reach 20 points until late in the third quarter, or 30 until the game’s final basket scored in the closing minute on a Nick Walker slam dunk – Metamora’s third of the night after two highlight-reel jams from dynamic 6-foot-6 senior Ethan Kizer.

The Bulldogs did not ever truly threaten to upset the Redbirds (28-2), with the last tie coming at 8-all after a Nolan Lukach layup off a nifty Logan Aukland assist just over three minutes after the opening tip.

“We really wanted to come in here thinking we could compete [with Metamora], and we did for a long time,” Streator coach Beau Doty said. “They’re just so dynamic, so good, so disciplined ... and we just couldn’t keep it within striking distance enough to make [our game plan] effective.

“But I’m super proud of our guys and our resiliency.”

While Streator’s respectable 41.7% shooting came via 20 for 48 from the field, Metamora – which moves on to face East Peoria, a 61-55 winner in Wednesday’s late semifinal, in Friday’s regional championship game – on Wednesday shot a blazing 61.2% (30 for 49) from the field, including 46.2% (12 for 26) from 3-point range.

Drew Tucker, who was 5 for 5 from outside the arc, led the attack with 18 points, followed closely by Tyson Swanson (15 points), Kizer (14 points) and Tyler Mason (9 points, 9 assists).

The Redbirds assisted on 22 of their 30 made baskets, with Metamora building a 22-14 lead after one quarter and pushing that advantage to 39-25 by halftime and 57-37 entering the fourth.

Streator, which will lose just two seniors – Austin Taylor and Adam Williamson – to graduation, relied heavily on Benning for its scoring, with the 6-2 junior point guard scoring 10 of the Bulldogs’ 14 first-quarter points to keep them in contention. He also added a team-high six rebounds before leaving, along with the rest of the starters, with 2:30 remaining and Streator behind by 25 points.

“We just need to take some rest and then attack the summer really hard, practice really hard,” Benning said when asked what he and his returning teammates need to do to improve on their 17-win season. “And when fall comes, we need to get in the gym. Everyone can get in the gym more and work harder, make practice 10 times more intense.”

Cade Peterson added seven points for Streator, with Matt Williamson and Landon Muntz (three assists, four rebounds) chipping in five points apiece for the Illinois Central Eight Conference co-champions.

“Even though the majority of our team comes back,” Doty said, “it’s never easy to end a season. You go all day every day, it fills your thoughts, it fills your time, and then it just abruptly comes to an end. That’s the toughest thing. It doesn’t get easier in year 14 as it was in year 10 or 5 or 1.”