Scales Mound vs. Tuscola - IHSA 1A State Semifinals

Cold shooting Warriors lose semfinal
Scales Mound advances past Tuscola, 40-27; will meet Gibault in title tilt

03/09/2023
BY JACK BULLOCK
CHAMPAIGN - Twenty percent.

Now matter how you say it, in sports or in daily life, if you're only successful 20 percent of the time you're going to have days like the one Tuscola had at the State Farm Center Thursday.

Like mama said in the famous song, there would be 'days like this'.

Head coach Justin Bozarth and his Tuscola kids had one of those games during their semifinal contest at the 1A state tournament.

After a pretty good first few minutes, the Warriors struggled.

The old saying 'couldn't throw it in the pond if they were standing on the dock' fit the club unfortunately.

The Warriors connected on just 8-of-40 shot attempts and committed 11 costly turnovers as they fell into the third place game with a 40-27 loss.

Thursday night the Warriors regrouped and took home the third place honors with a win over Bloomington Cornerstone Christian Academy.

Scales Mound, who won the third place game in 2022, took a step toward its first ever state championship in any sport with the victory to improve to 33-5 after its 10th consecutive win.

Coach Erik Kudronowicz instructed his team to switch out of their usual man-to-man defense into a zone.

It paid off with a trip to the championship game, as it stymied Tuscola who added to its own misery with just 3-of-23 from the 3-point line.

Sophomore guard Kam Sweetnam scored eight points while second team 1A all-stater Jordan Quinn was held to just seven points as the Warriors' nine game win streak came to an abrupt halt.

The Hornets second team all-stater 6-2 junior Thomas Hereau scored 10 points and senior Jacob Duerr added eight in the contest.

Scales Mound didn't exactly light the scoreboard on fire on Thursday but they did enough offensively to help out the defensive effort to move into the title game.

“We definitely belong,” said Coach Kudronowicz when asked about the 'Cinderella' label his team has. “It kind of coincides with it and the reason is that we have a school that has 68 kids and maybe 35 boys, total. You get 20 of them out for your program. You get what you get and you go with it. That's where that story originates from. At the same time, from my standpoint as a coach, I've always felt like we could compete at this level.”

The Warriors actually played well enough defensively in the first half but the lack of offensive punch derailed their championship chances as Scales Mound took control in the final 16 minutes.

Tuscola led at the half despite just 4-of-22 made shots in the first two quarters.

Quinn scored on a set play lob to begin the game, Josiah Hortin hit a 3-pointer and senior Chris Boyd added two free throws for a 7-5 first quarter lead.

Tuscola hit 6-of-7 foul shots in the first two quarters and sophomore Parker James, along with Quinn, hit field goal attempts in the second quarter for a 15-8 advantage.

But the Hornets got a spark from junior Seth Birkett who nailed his only made shot of the game, a 3-pointer, and junior Max Wienen scored on a rebound of his own miss to cut the Tuscola lead to just 15-13 at the break.

A 14-4 third quarter in which the Warriors hit just 2-of-8 from the field and committed five turnovers flipped the switch in the Hornets' favor.

A 9-2 run gave Scales Mound back the lead for keeps.

Duerr and senior Charlie Wiegel scored consecutive baskets to take a 17-15 lead.

After Hortin responded with a basket, the Hornets got points from Hereau with a 3-pointer and a drive to the basket by Wiegel on a nice left hand finish as the lead expanded to 22-17 with 2:32 left in the quarter.

Six-eight senior Dylan Slavenburg scored seven points in the game, which included a 3-point bomb from the left wing.

Two free throws from Hereau ended the third with the Hornets up 27-19.

Tuscola managed to get to within four points of the lead in the final quarter.

Sweetnam hit his two 3-pointers during a stretch that whittled the lead down to 30-26 with 3:51 remaining.

But Scales Mound hit 6-of-8 free throws late and got a basket from junior Evan Cogan to expand the lead to its finish.

Tuscola was just 2-of-10 from the floor in the final quarter as they fell into the third place game, denied of a championship game berth.

The Hornets were just 13-of-46 from the field, 3-of-18 from the arc, which was only 28.3 percent.

However they made 11-of-16 from the foul line and they took better care of the ball (six turnovers) to reach the state championship game set for Saturday morning at 11 am.

“To Scales Mound's credit they went to a 2-3 zone defense and their top two guys were extremely active. If our team give up 40 points we're usually in a position to win the game,” said Coach Bozarth. “This is a really good shooting team, it is probably the strength of our team. We have so many kids up here that can put the ball in the basket. But even our perimeter shooting all year long has been pretty impressive. Today it wasn't one of those days.”

1A State Semifinals	1	2	3	4	-	F
Scales Mound	05	08	14	13	-	40
Tuscola	07	08	04	08	-	27

Scales Mound (40) - Wienen 1 0 0-0 2, Hereau 1 1 5-6 10, Duerr 2 0 4-5 8, Wiegel 3 0 0-0 6, Driscoll 1 0 0-0 2, Sleavenburg 1 1 2-4 7, Birkett 0 1 0-0 3, Cogan 1 0 0-1 2.
2FG-10, 3FG-3, FT-11-16, PF-10.
Tuscola (37) – Sweetnam 1 2 0-0 8, Hortin 1 1 0-0 5, James 1 0 0-0 2, Quinn 2 0 3-5 7, Boyd 0 0 3-4 3, Musgrave 0 0 2-2 2, Barrett 0 0 0-0 0, Kurtz 0 0 0-0 0, Spillman 0 0 0-0 0, Woodard 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-5, 3FG-3, FT-8-11, PF-14.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.