Boys basketball: Solid first quarter, late runs help Streator top Pontiac

STREATOR — The Streator boys basketball team put together a solid first quarter against visiting Pontiac on Saturday night. Then after the Indians pushed back to take a one-point lead in the middle of the third quarter, the Bulldogs used a couple of key runs to help lead to a 65-56 victory at Pops Dale Gymnasium.

“We got off to a great start in the first, but Pontiac is a solid team and showed it by chipping away and eventually taking the lead midway into the third quarter,” Streator coach Beau Doty said. “The key for us was when that happened, we quickly put together a string of good possessions to grab back the lead, and then extended it. It was a physical game and one we’re happy to come out on top of.

“This was a great week for us.”

Streator, with its seventh consecutive win, improved to 8-2 on the season and completed the successful week at 3-0 after league road wins over Peotone and Manteno. Pontiac fell for the third straight game and is now 5-5.

Streator was led by senior guard Christian Benning, who poured in game-high 33 points, 14 in the opening quarter to help the Bulldogs to a 21-10 advantage. Benning also grabbed 12 rebounds, passed for three assists, swiped three steals and was 13 of 18 from the free-throw line.

“We wanted to come out right away tonight with a lot of ball pressure on defense,” said Benning, who received a number of good screens from senior teammate Quinn Baker to get him loose to the hoop. “Pontiac has guys that can really shoot the ball, so the key was trying to limit the open looks they had. We wanted to also be very physical on both ends of the floor which I think we did a pretty good job with in the first quarter and late in the game.

“Quinn has always set good screens. Most of the time in our offensive sets that’s the key for the guy with the ball either getting to the rim on the dribble or being able to kick it out to open shooters if the defense collapses. He was big tonight helping me get free a bunch of times.”

Pontiac senior guard Riley Weber nearly matched Benning with 32 points and 12 rebounds in the contest and was a key to the Indians cutting the early disadvantage to 33-29 at halftime and taking a 39-38 lead with 4:18 remaining in the third period.

From there the hosts went on an 8-0 run with drives from Benning and Logan Aukland (14 points) off Baker screens, then a 3-pointer from the left corner by Cade Peterson.

“Having a kid like Quinn setting a solid ball screen at the top of the key for one of our guards gets the offense going,” Doty said. “He knows his role and works very hard to be very good in that role. We went to that high screen a lot throughout the game because Pontiac was having troubles stopping it.”

The Bulldogs then used a 7-0 burst - five points by Benning and a layup in transition by Baker - to extend the lead to 54-43 with six minutes to go.

Streator then knocked down 11 of 12 free throws in the remaining time to help close out the triumph.

Baker said that there is nothing better than setting a screen, then watching a teammate score off of it.

“Setting screens is part of my role, it’s something I have to do and something I enjoy doing,” Baker said. “It’s awesome to set a really good screen for one of my teammates that helps led to a basketball. Like tonight, I knew if I set a good screen for Christian, he was going to either score or get to the free-throw line.

Streator is back in action on Thursday against Seneca at the United Center, the home of the Chicago Bulls, at 1:30 p.m.

“Playing at the United Center is going to a great experience for all of us,” Baker said. “We all grew up watching and following the Bulls. We had a good week this week, so now I think we just have to have a couple of good days of practice and then be focused to play a solid game at the UC.”