Ninth-ranked Kankakee too much as Pontiac boys basketball seniors take final bow

STREATOR — Pontiac knew it was going to have to shoot very well in order to pull off an upset of top-seed Kankakee in the final of the Class 3A Streator Regional on Friday. It didn't happen as PTHS saw its season end with a 62-47 loss to the Kays.

But not only was it a defeat that ended the season, it was a loss that saw the end of three seniors' careers. This was the last time that Kerr Bauman, Henry Brummel and Riley Weber took the floor for the Orange-and-Blue.

“We did not hit, we had a tough shooting night,” PTHS head coach Matt Kelley said. “The ball just didn't go in tonight.”

Kankakee, which entered the postseason ranked ninth in Class 3A, drained six 3-pointers in the first half and added a three-point play as it led 12-6 after one period and 30-24 at the half.

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It was that close at the half because Riley Johnson hit a pair of treys and Henry Brummel scored in the final 90 seconds to cut into a 14-point deficit. The margin dropped to three quickly in the third quarter as Brummel hit a triple to make it 30-27.

But that was as close as the Amerinds could get. Kankakee got on a bit of a run to lead by 10 as the teams entered the final turn.

“They're really good at applying pressure,” Kelley said. “We didn't get a ton of open looks and that's a credit to their pressure.”

The bigger loss will be the departure of Bauman, Brummel and Weber. You can add Michael Kuska in there, as well, though he saw his prep career end in January after sustaining an injury just two games back from recovering from surgery.

“I'm really proud of this group of seniors,” Kelley said. “When these guys were freshmen, they were playing freshman games, JV games and varsity games. Now we're set at every level, that's a testament to what these guys have accomplished and how everybody wants to be a part of Pontiac basketball.”

The legacy is there. Three of them finished with more than 1,000 points, including one — Weber — who set a new standard for career scoring at PTHS.

“It's a testament of how they shared the basketball,” Kelley said. “They didn't care who got the credit, they just wanted to win games. This has been such a great group to coach and their effort has always been top notch. They changed the culture of our program.”

This senior group finished with a pair of 20-win seasons, including going 20-11 this year. They also went 18-2 in Illini Prairie Conference play over the past two seasons and were the key players in the school's first sectional championship since 1962 when it made the Elite Eight in 2022-23.

“We brought winning back,” Bauman said. “More people wanted to watch entertaining basketball and I think we brought that back.”

The group was close knit even before high school and they meshed well as the two kids from St. Mary's (Brummel and Kuska) were already well acquainted with the two PJHS kids (Bauman and Weber).

“We were friends, even when they were at St. Mary's and we were at the junior high,” Bauman said. “We came in and hit the ground running.”

As they grew, they became leaders. Bauman pointed out that the quartet worked hard and pushed that on the rest of the team over the years. He said they tried to help the younger players grow, which also meant tough love at times.

“They were really leaders, like older brothers,” freshman Amazin King said. “I listened to them. They always picked me up.

“They were hard but I love them.”

Weber, the new all-time boys' basketball scoring leader at Pontiac, finished with 18 points on this night. Brummel hit for 8 in his final game and Bauman tossed in 4 markers. Completing the PTHS scoring were Johnson with 10 points and King with 7.

Kankakee (27-4) was led by Damontae May with 18 points. The Kays advance to the Pontiac Sectional where they will face eighth-ranked Peoria (Richwoods) on Tuesday. The other semifinal will pit No. 2 Metamora against LaSalle-Peru.

This article originally appeared on Pontiac Daily Leader: Ninth-ranked Kankakee too much as Pontiac boys basketball seniors take final bow