Boys basketball: Lisle’s upset bid falls short at Streator
With the clock ticking down and an outright conference championship in the balance, the Streator boys basketball team’s two active seniors – guard LA Moton and center Joe Hoekstra – came through in the clutch.
All the more fitting it was senior night.
Moton and Hoekstra combined to score 17 of the Bulldogs’ final 21 points in a come-from-behind, 52-42 victory Wednesday evening over visiting Lisle that sealed a second consecutive outright Illinois Central Eight Conference championship and left upset-hopeful Wilmington a game behind in second place.
“We came here today, and we were like, ‘This conference is ours. Ain’t nobody stopping us from getting it,’ ” said Moton after scoring a team-high 18 points, 10 coming in the decisive fourth quarter. “We don’t like to share around here. We wanted to get that win.
“We wanted all of it.”
Lisle (17-13 overall, 7-7 for a fifth-place finish in the ICE) trailed for much of the night, but caught the Bulldogs (13-16 overall, 10-4 in the ICE) at 26-26 late in the third on a Hunter McGrath take to the hoop and led 38-37 with just over three minutes remaining in the fourth.
A pair of Hoesktra free throws with 3:08 to play returned the advantage to the Bulldogs and started a game-flipping 5-0 run. That was followed by a game-ending 7-0 run to put away the win and the ICE title for Streator.
Lisle did not make it easy – typical of an Illinois Central Eight season that saw a champion with four conference losses and no team with fewer than four conference wins.
“You look at our standings, there were no easy nights,” Lisle coach Andrew Weber said. “The bottom teams were beating the top teams, and when you go on the road, especially in a place like this where it’s not easy to win, to fight like we did, I’m proud of our guys.
“We had it. It was a back-and-forth game, and some things didn’t go our way in the end.”
Both Lisle’s Frankie Zifcak with 21 points and 11 rebounds as well as Streator’s Hoekstra with 15 points and 18 rebounds recorded double-doubles. For Hoekstra, the 18 rebounds brings his season total to 332, tying 2025 graduate Nolan Lukach’s single-season school record set just last winter.
Streator junior Brennen Stillwell – who drained a key 3-pointer with 1:41 to play off the first of three consecutive Sharonn Morton nice-vision assists – added 13 points, six rebounds and a game-best three steals. It was part of a reslilient Bulldogs’ effort that made winners of Moton, Hoekstra and injured senior Riley Stevens in their penultimate game at Pops Dale Gymnasium.
“We really had some resilience tonight,” Streator coach Beau Doty said, “and survived a clunky stretch. Lisle’s going to do that to you. They’re really smart in their zone, and Andrew does a great job, is a great teacher of the game. ... We struggled for a long time, but [assistant] coach [Tyler] Wargo made a nice adjustment to get LA downhill a little bit. It was a little wrinkle, but a big change in the game.
“I’m so happy for Joe and LA and Riley to [get a senior-night win] in an environment like this.”
In addition to Zifcak’s double-double, Lisle received eight points and three assists courtesy of Simas Dobilas. Hunter McGrath and Lucas Bundschuh pitched in four points apiece.
Streator built its early lead thanks to Lisle opening the contest with six misses from the field, two from the free-throw line and a pair of turnovers before scoring its first points on a Zifcak bucket six minutes in.
The Lions outshot Streator 40.5% (17 of 42) to 30.6% (15 of 49), an advantage more than offset by the Bulldogs’ 18-6 edge in made free throws, +4 margin in turnovers and sizable 37-26 advantage rebounding.
The Bulldogs will host Pekin on Friday before squaring off with Ottawa next Wednesday in the Class 3A La Salle-Peru Regional semifinals.
Lisle hosts Illinois Math & Science Academy on Friday, then opens play in the Class 2A Beecher Regional next Wednesday versus Chicago Christian.