CHAMPAIGN ― The Eastland Cougars had trouble finding their shooting stroke early on in Thursday’s IHSA Class 1A state semifinals.
And by the time they found it, Chicago Marshall was too far gone.
Marshall used a balanced attack and fended off a couple of Eastland surges in the second half to pull out a 66-38 victory and advance to the 1A boys basketball state championship game. In the end, it was a season-worst first half that doomed Eastland (32-6).
“To come out like that, in this game, it’s just ― I don’t even know what to say about it,” said senior Parker Krogman, who was one of Eastland’s key cogs when it took second at state in 1A last year. Third is the best they can do this time. “I had a guy in my shorts the whole game, and I just don’t think I handled it very well.”
The Cougars shot 2-for-17 from the field in the first two quarters and were 0 for 5 from 3-point range, for a season-low 11-percent field-goal-shooting percentage. Things improved slightly in the second half, but not enough, and Marshall (23-10) rolled into the finals, while Eastland crawled into the Thursday evening third-place game.
“We definitely have to find a way to regroup after that one,” Krogman said.
Eastland opened the game 1-for-7 from the field and had just three points in the first quarter. But the Cougars’ patented stifling defense held Marshall to a 1 of 6 effort from the floor in the first to keep it close.
Things started to get away from them, however, when the Cougars missed three straight shots from the paint and fell behind 20-3 just over three minutes into the second quarter. After making its first field goal less than a minute in, Eastland went 0-for-11 over the next 10:29.
“It all started with the pressure out front,” Marshall head coach Darrin Laye said. “But our whole group played great defense…We just really played great defense all day.”
A pair of Braden Anderson 3-pointers from the right baseline sliced the Commandos’ lead to 35-20 late in the third, and Anderson drained a long one from the left wing early in the fourth to make it 46-28.
But Marshall never faltered. Led by Quinton Gibson, Jr.’s 20 points and six rebounds, and a strong game for both Rayvon Myles (14 points and eight rebounds) and Amari Kennedy (eight points and eight rebounds), the lead never slipped below 15 the entire second half. Marshall’s trio of emphatic dunks down the stretch helped keep the momentum on the Commandos’ side throughout.
Krogman sank a turnaround jumper from the free-throw line at the 5-minute mark of the fourth to cut the lead down to 18, but Marshall continued to find an answer. It was Gibson’s fast-break finger-roll this time around.
“It was all about Marshall’s speed and tenacity,” Eastland head coach Tyler Zumdahl said. “We just couldn’t settle into anything… And then it all just snowballed on us.”
Anderson and Wyatt Carroll each finished with 11 points for Eastland, while Zyacn Haverland added nine points and eight rebounds. Krogman had seven points and three rebounds. Eastland shot 29 percent (13-for-45) from the floor for the game after picking up the pace some down the backstretch. Marshall shot 50 percent (29-for-57) from the field.
Eastland was scheduled to take on Lawrenceville for third at 7 p.m. Thursday back in Champaign. Marshall soared to Saturday’s title game where it will face Goreville for all the 1A marbles.
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: ‘Snowballed on us’: Eastland goes cold and falls in state semifinals
Reporting by Jay Taft, Rockford Register Star / Rockford Register Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
