Eastland's hot shooters go cold at the wrong time: in the state championship contest
The hot-shooting attack of Eastland was nowhere to be found this time around.
The Cougars went cold at the wrong time.
And instead of feeling the sweet taste of victory, as they had done the previous 10 games leading up to Saturday's IHSA Class 1A boys basketball state championship, they suffered through the agony of defeat in the season finale.
"It was just one of those games where we couldn't hit our shots. That's just basketball," senior guard Adam Awender said after Chicago Hope downed Eastland 71-38 in the title game. "It's definitely the opposite feeling that we've had. ... This is tough to handle."
Awender made 5 of his 12 shots while scoring 15 points in Saturday's title game, and Parker Krogman drained 6 of his 15 shots for 17 points. But the rest of the Cougars' lineup was ice cold all night.
Only one other Eastland player made a basket Saturday, and that was Tanner Stern's mid-range jumper that came late, after the outcome was already determined. The Cougars shot 28% from the floor, making just 12 of their 42 shots.
"You're going to have nights like that," Awender added. "I just wish it wasn't in this game."
Awender and Peyton Spears are the only two full-time senior players for Eastland. Spears was 0-for-9 from the field Saturday, 0-for-7 from 3-point range.
Eastland had as many turnovers (12) as it did field goals in this one.
"That's kind of the disappointing part: We've done such a good job offensively in this stretch, with a lot of different guys and a lot of different styles," Eastland head coach Tyler Zumdahl said, "but in this one, we never really got settled in."
This is still a young team with a lot of potential coming back for next season. But after the way the last month had gone, the Cougars felt like this was their big opportunity to reel in the first ever NUIC title in boys basketball.
"This is our chance," Eastland's Zyacn Haverland said after the Cougars upended No. 1-ranked Pecatonica back on March 7. "This is the team to do it."
And they almost did.
But the hottest-shooting team in the NUIC went cold at the wrong time. Eastland had shot over 50% from the floor in every other postseason game, including a scorching 63% in Thursday's state semifinal victory. They shot 64% in that key victory over No. 1 Pecatonica in the sectional finals.
But they missed nine shots in a row in the first half of the championship game, and then had another brutal stretch (going 1-for-8) in the second half.
"We struggled offensively for large portions of the game," Zumdahl said, "and then it was just a snowball effect."
Eastland's leading scorers this season were all clustered around 15 points per outing. Krogman scored 15.3 points per game, followed by Awender's 15 and Spears' 14.6. The team that played three juniors and two sophomores a lot were hot all the way until the end.
Almost until the end.
"That was tough, but this team will be back," Awender said. "There's still too much talent on this team for them not to be back."
Jay Taft is a Rockford Register Star sports reporter. Email him at jtaft@rrstar.com and sign up for the Rockford High School Sports Newsletter here at rrstar.com. Jay has covered a variety of sports, from the Chicago Bears and Blackhawks to local youth sports, since the turn of the century at the Register Star.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Eastland gets baskets from only two of its stars as it falls in finale
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