Washington's Spark Helps Joliet Catholic Comeback

AURORA – A drive for a conventional 3-point play and back-to-back assists from senior guard Shakar Washington showed Tuesday night how capable the Joliet Catholic boys basketball team can be.

After trailing 17-12 early in the second half, the Hilltoppers forced a 19-19 tie on Washington’s sweet layup-and-free-throw combo. His assists built a 27-22 lead with 1:38 remaining in the third quarter.

Right where they needed to be.

“Definitely,” said Washington, who finished with 6 rebounds and 4 assists. “Basically, during those five minutes, we executed. That’s what we have to do – execute. We didn’t execute for the whole game.”

The rest of the game, indeed, belonged to unbeaten St. Edward. The Green Wave recovered for a 29-27 lead heading into the fourth and prevailed 43-37 in first-round action of the Burney Wilkie Classic.

Playing at Aurora Christian, Joliet Catholic (0-5) received a game-high 14 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocked shots from senior forward Ryan Peter. Senior guard Keith Craig added 10 points and 6 rebounds, freshman guard Jalen Jackson had 7 points and junior forward Jimmy Elias tallied 8 boards.

A 3-pointer by Jackson and a layup off a steal by Peter cut the lead for St. Edward (5-0) down to 33-32 with 3:37 left in the fourth quarter. A 3-ball by sophomore guard Keegan Tyrell inched the Hillmen within 37-35 at 1:54 left before a technical foul eventually grooved the Green Wave ahead 41-35.

Closer.

“We are,” Joliet Catholic coach Joe Gura said. “But we can’t make critical mistakes. We can’t have the captain of the team getting a technical foul at the end of the game, no matter how frustrated you are.

“The technical was a 4-point swing, then we didn’t make our free throws. If we make our free throws, we win. That’s the ballgame right there. You can’t expect to make errors like that and expect to win.”

In the third quarter, the Hilltoppers put themselves in a position to win with a baseline jumper and a drive, both by Craig. Peter’s trey off Elias’ kickout had the Hillmen on top 22-19 before Washington set up Craig for another baseline jumper and dished to Peter for another 3-ball and the 27-22 advantage.

“Absolutely, Craig had a great game,” Gura said. “Elias has to get better offensively, but he did a nice job on the boards. I saw good signs from Jalen and KT (Tyrell). They hit big threes in the fourth to keep us in it. You have to be in it to win it, and we were in it, but we didn’t finish it. We have to get better at that.”

That chance comes Wednesday night against host Aurora Christian, Thursday against Montini and Saturday against IMSA. A win, according to Washington, would go a very long way for the Hillmen.

“Honestly, some of the younger guys, you can tell that they are anxious to get one,” he said. “They’re trying to do everything in their power to get us a win. Hopefully, we’ll get a win really soon here.”

NOTES: Shooting woes continued to hamper the Hilltoppers. Joliet Catholic shot a mere 30.2 percent (13-of-43) from the floor, 27.3 percent (6-of-22) from three and 45.5 percent (5-of-11) from the line. St. Edward won by hitting 35.7 percent afield (15-of-42) and a clinching 90.9 percent (10-of-11) from the line … Little
things matter. St. Ed’s made 6-of-7 at the line in the fourth quarter while the Hilltoppers converted only 2-of-7 … Peter sank 4-of-9 from three, topping the Green Wave as team (3-of-10) … Jackson tied Peter for the team lead in steals
with 2 … Tyrell also contributed 3 assists and 5 rebounds.