The Eastland boys basketball team is back, one year after falling just short of its ultimate goal of winning an IHSA Class 1A state championship.
So what has to happen to take that final step this time around, after finishing second in the state last year?
“I think that did motivate the guys, because they all worked really, really hard from that day on,” Eastland head coach Tyler Zumdahl said, “and after you punch your ticket to state, anything can happen.”
Here’s what to watch for this week at the IHSA boys basketball state tournament:
How Eastland can win a state title
Eastland got all the way to the 1A state title game last year, but the Cougars fell 71-38 to Chicago Hope Academy in the finale. Eastland was outplayed that day, and the Cougars graduated three senior starters. After the disappointing finish, those left over dug deep in an effort to get back.
“When our season ended like that, I kind of met with all the guys and talked about their goals for the next year,” Eastland head coach Tyler Zumdahl said. “And pretty much everybody had the goal to get back. … And they really attacked those lofty goals in the offseason.”
Eastland is 1-5 all-time in boys state basketball tournaments, taking fourth in both 2010 and 2013 and finishing in second last year. But they are looking to turn that all around this year with a season-ending, two-game winning streak in Champaign.
The Cougars are on an eight-game winning streak right now and just had a two-point win over Tremont in the super-sectionals, as well as a one-point victory over Orion in the regional finals.
“We’ve had so many close games this year, and a lot of those are good experience for us,” Zumdahl said. “We played one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the state in 1A, and that has us ready.”
Eastland has two returning starters in Parker Krogman and Zyacn Haverland. The 6-foot-3 Krogman, a four-year starter and the school’s all-time leading scorer, tallied a 16.1 point-per-game clip this season, shooting 49% (231-for-476) from the field. The 6-4 Haverland averaged 9.3 points and 5.3 rebounds. Senior guard Braden Anderson (9.1 points and 4.5 rebounds) and junior guard Wyatt Carroll (7.8 points) have come up big along the way as well.
All about the 1A tournament
Rockford-area team: Eastland (32-5) is making its second straight trip to the Class 1A state Final Four and takes on Chicago Marshall (21-9) in the second 1A semifinal
Who else: Goreville (33-4) and Lawrenceville (34-2), two teams ranked in the top 10 of the state’s 1A polls at the end of the regular season, are on the other side of the bracket.
Where: State Farm Center in Champaign, on the campus of the University of Illinois.
When: The first 1A semifinal (Goreville vs. Lawrenceville) at 10 a.m. Thursday; then the second 1A semi (Eastland vs. Chicago Marshall) will tip off at approximately 11:45 a.m.
Who is Chicago Marshall?
Marshall comes in with a deep history in IHSA boys basketball. The Commandos won it all in 1958 and 1960, but in this era, they won a 3A state title in 2008. They took third in 3A in 2010 in their most recent trophy run.
Marshall, which went 4-5 to open 2026 but regrouped down the stretch, is on a tear this postseason and has won its five playoff games by an average score of 63.2-46.8.
The Commandos are led by guard D.J. Laye, who is averaging 16.0 points per game and also leads the team with 170 rebounds and 124 assists. But they have size as well, and 6-6 senior Amari Cornell is long, tall and can block shots consistently.
Coaches’ keys to the game
Eastland head coach Tyler Zumdahl: “Last year was a kind of like, ‘Wow, we’re at state. What’s it going to be like?’ Whereas now, we kind of know what it’s going to be like, so let’s make sure we finish the job this year. … That’s our mindset.”
Marshall head coach Darrin Laye: “Defense. We have to continue to play stifling, hard defense. We have to make their guards make mistakes.”
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: Here’s how Eastland can win its first 1A boys basketball state title
Reporting by Jay Taft, Rockford Register Star / Rockford Register Star
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