Boys basketball: New faces help IC Catholic start season with a win

The boys basketball season got underway Monday with some Thanksgiving Tournament action at Manteno, and there was a little early rust to shake off for the four participating teams.

For the host Panthers, their game against Beecher was far from a high-scoring affair early on. But despite a slow start for both teams, Manteno pulled away for a 43-39 win thanks to a 17-point fourth quarter, 11 of which were scored by senior Braden Campbell.

Another team that was looking to mix in some new faces in Monday’s season opener was IC Catholic.

The Knights have large crop seniors to replace from last season’s team, the winningest in program history, and got off to a strong start Monday with a 58-43 win over Peotone.

After a close first half, the Knights outscored the Blue Devils 36-25 in the second half.

Returning sophomore Will Schmidt led the way with 13 points while junior Gael Mendoza added 10 points and sophomore and varsity newcomer Grant Bowen added eight.

“It’s a young group that we have after graduating eight seniors, and a lot of new faces this year,” head coach TJ Tyrrell said. “We really haven’t had much practice time together, and it showed out there a little offensively. Definitely room for improvement, but being able to pull out that win is the main thing.”

Peotone also has a lot of production to replace this season. The Blue Devils got 11 points apiece from returning junior starter Alex Chenoweth and junior Ethan McNeill, who is stepping into a heightened role this season.

Head coach Ron Oloffson saw some promising things, but ultimately felt the team gave a few too many possessions away.

“We’ve got to manufacture some points with the press, and we just didn’t quite score enough to do that,” he said. “There were some terrible turnovers and some really bad breakdowns, but we’re going to get nothing but better. I’m excited for our team.”