03/09/2023
BY JACK BULLOCK
CHAMPAIGN - Back in the fall, before his teams' 2022-23 campaign began, Coach Dennis Rueter put together a schedule that gave everyone a clue about what this long-time mentor believed his Waterloo Gibault Hawks were capable of.

The slate of games featured teams he believed would be part of his state tournament path to reach Champaign and could prepare his kids for a postseason run.

The scheduling and this program's optimism was warranted.

The Hawks are now a win away from the pinnacle.

Waterloo Gibault pounced on Bloomington Cornerstone Christian Academy on Thursday, using a staunch defensive effort and sharp shooting to reach their second state championship game in the program's history with a 70-46 triumph at the State Farm Center in Champaign.

The Hawks are now 31-7 on the season and will face the Scales Mound in the 1A state title game on Saturday at 11 am.

Second team all-state selection senior guard Kaden Augustine netted 20 points while hitting 9-of-16 shots from the field as the Hawks took a 17-8 first quarter lead and were hardly threatened as they made quick work of the Cyclones in the opening game on Thursday.

Senior Kameron Hanvey came up big for Gibault with 16 points while 6-3 junior Gavin Kesler netted 14.

Both Hanvey and Kesler matched each other shooting the ball, connecting on 7-of-9 attempts as Gibault was 31-of-53 (58.5 percent) overall.

Hudson Blank and Kanan Augustine added eight and seven points for Coach Rueter who is now just five wins away from 800 for his career at Gibault in his 44th season.

“It was no question that we decided that if we're going to go North (Jacksonville Super-Sectional) then we need to play some of those teams so we would have an idea of what we were dealing with,” said Coach Rueter. “We also went over and played a couple of teams in St. Louis that were athletic teams. We knew that we had a shot this year and enough personnel to at least be dangerous.”

The private school from the Bloomington area saw their first ever trip to the state finals not go as planned.

Coach John Schippert and his club dropped to 32-6 after having their 11-game winning streak snapped by Gibault Catholic.

The Cyclones had three players in double-digits but it took a lot of shots to get there.

Senior guard Austin Henard scored 17 for CCA, senior forward Jackson Baber pitched in 14 while senior Cade Wolfe finished with 10

Hitting 21-of-44 wasn't good enough on this day combined with 18 turnovers, 10 of which came on Gibault steals, while being out-rebounded 28-20.

The Hawks crashed the offensive boards for 11 rebounds that led to 13 second chance points.

“I think that is pretty accurate. I thought a couple of times they (CCA) were a little sloppy early and got behind. We were there to lay it in (shots),” said Coach Rueter about his team's defensive effort. “I wasn't completely pleased with our defense early but in the second half I thought we really kind of dictated with our defense what was going to happen. We made a lot of lay ups.”

Gibault scored just seconds into the game on a lay up by Hanvey and only trailed briefly after CCA scored consecutive baskets by Baber and Wolfe (4-2).

Although the Hawks only hit a pair of 3-pointers in the game, they came at opportune times.

Hanvey got loose for a 20-footer from the left wing to give the Hawks back the lead to stay as part of a 13-2 run for a 15-6 lead.

Kaden Augustine nailed a trifecta from the left side of the floor to start the second quarter for a 20-8 advantage.

The Cyclones final run to make things interesting was late in the half.

A 3-pointer by senior Tate Witt and inside scores from Connor Scott and Wolfe closed the deficit to 26-19.

A free throw by Kanen Augustine and a bucket by Kaden closed the second quarter at 29-19.

A 9-0 run by Gibault to open the third quarter was the beginning of the end for Bloomington Cornerstone Christian Academy.

Kesler scored twice in the scoring move; both on offensive rebounds, and Hanvey added points on fast break lay ups off of CCA turnovers.

Hanvey converted one of the transition scores while being fouled by Wolfe.

The conventional three-point play made it 38-19 at the 4:25 mark of the third quarter.

Kaden Augustine scored the final six points in the frame for the Hawks with the last two scores coming on assists by Kesler.

A behind the back pass from Kesler set up Augustine on a lay up that just beat the third quarter horn for a 52-31 advantage.

Gibault ended what doubt there was left with a 10-2 run to close out the game before both coaches went to reserves in the final moments.

Four of the five baskets were transition scores as the Hawks now sit a win away from the program's first title.

“I'm sure it is going to be difficult (championship game) and we will see what happens,” said Coach Rueter, talking about the comparison to the 1999 state championship game run. “It was a different time. You had to be a lot better in those days with two-classes. With it being the way it is you have a better shot (getting to state) obviously but we're going to face a pretty good team for sure.”

Scales Mound (46) - Scott 1 0 0-0 2, Baber 7 0 0-0 14, Henard 7 1 0-0 17, Witt 0 1 0-0 3, Wolfe 4 0 2-2 10, Clark 0 0 0-0 0, Lade 0 0 0-0 0, Smith 0 0 0-0 0, Enescu 0 0 0-0 0, Thoma 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-19, 3FG-2, FT-2-2, PF-11.
Waterloo Gibault Catholic (70) – Kaden Augustine 8 1 1-2 20, Hanvy 6 1 1-1 16, Kanen Augustine 2 0 3-4 7, BNlank 4 0 0-1 8, Kesler 7 0 0-3 14, Mechler 1 0 0-0 2, Schaefer 1 0 0-0 2, Altes 0 0 0-0 0, Friedich 0 0 0-0 0, Biffar 0 0 0-0 0, Mannes 0 0 0-0 0, Wessel 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-29, 3FG-2, FT-6-13, PF-6.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.