Late steal, stops lift La Salle-Peru past Streator to second straight regional title

LA SALLE – With just under two minutes remaining Friday in the Class 3A La Salle-Peru Regional championship game, the Streator Bulldogs came down with a rebound off a miss by the host L-P Cavaliers in a tie game and brought the ball up the court looking to take a late, possibly decisive, lead.

L-P junior wing Erick Sotelo had a different idea.

Sotelo stole the ball at the top of the key with nothing but open floor between him and a layup to give the lead back to the hosts. Sotelo kissed it off the glass and in with 1:39 remaining for the go-ahead and ultimately winning basket as the fifth-seeded Cavaliers won their 41st regional or district title and second in a row, 49-46 over the No. 2-seeded Bulldogs.

“We had a miss, and [Streator] had a fast-break opportunity,” Sotelo said. “I had to pick up ball, because that’s what we’ve been preaching all year, ‘Pick up ball at half court.’

“We tried dribbling through, I picked him off and got a wide-open fast break that gave us the momentum and gave us the win. Any lead in crunch time is huge.”

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Members of the L-P boys basketball team hoist the Class 3A La Salle-Peru Regional title plaque after defeating Streator on Friday, Feb. 28, 202,5 in Sellett Gymnasium at L-P High School. (Scott Anderson)

La Salle-Peru (15-18) advances to Wednesday’s semifinal of the 3A Washington Sectional against Peoria High, a 57-52 regional title-game winner over Richwoods.

“I’m out of words about this team,” L-P coach John Senica said. “That’s an excellent Streator team, but our guys did not give up, and it showed.

“I’m so proud of them.”

Streator (24-9) sees its season end despite leading 44-41 early in the fourth quarter. The Bulldogs – who had a cleverly designed open look to tie at the buzzer rim out, sending the home portion of the packed Sellett Gym crowd into a frenzy – did not score the final 3 minutes, 54 seconds.

“In the last few plays, I thought we executed,” Streator coach Beau Doty said. “We executed. Just sometimes shots go in. Sometimes they don’t.

“Credit L-P. They’re a tough and physical group, and they’re multi-dimensional.”

The Cavaliers led for the majority of the evening, including a 13-7 advantage at the close of one quarter and 20-17 at the half. That L-P lead grew to as many as eight points (27-19 and 30-22) midway through the third before the Bulldogs chipped away during a relative offensive explosion for both teams in the third, eventually capturing a brief lead, 38-37, on a Matt Williamson 3-pointer with 55 seconds left in the period.

The teams traded leads a few times in the fourth, a Nolan Lukach bucket with 3:54 remaining tying things a final time at 46-46. The came two-plus solid minutes of scoreless possessions and escalating tension until Sotelo’s steal and soar to the other end.

“That was awesome,” Senica said. “He just made a big play for us. That was probably the momentum swing for us to win the game.”

L-P – suffering from the same crunch-time free-throw bug that nearly cost Streator late in its Wednesday semifinal win over Ottawa – missed three of its four late free-throw opportunities, but the Bulldogs proved unable to find an equalizer, ending the season of the Illinois Central Eight Conference champs.

“My heart is just full of pride for this group,” Doty said of his team. “We had great practices all year. I never had to worry about anything. Everybody fought at a high level, competed at practice, wanted to get better, wanted to push each other. ... They’ve got nothing to hang their heads about.”

Williamson (19 points, three steals), Lukach (11 points, nine rebounds), Isaiah Weibel (eight points), Blaize Bressner (six points on two 3s) and Nolan Ketcham (two points, game-high four assists) – all seniors – provided all of the scoring for Streator.

La Salle-Peru freshman post Marion Persich was the star of the contest, finishing with 19 points, 11 rebounds and three assists while single-handedly answering multiple Streator comeback attempts. Mikey Hartman (eight points), Sotelo (seven points, seven rebounds), Braylin Bond (seven points) and Nick Olivero (five points) also paced L-P, which played all 32 minutes with a six-man rotation.