50 After 50: Upset in season opener, No. 41 Eagles use motivation to return to super-sectionals

The Illinois High School Association created a second class for boys basketball for the 1971-72 school year. The 2020-21 season would have been the 50th year of the boys basketball small-school tournament. Muddy River Sports is celebrating 50 years of small-school boys basketball by ranking the 50 best teams in Adams, Brown, Pike and Hancock counties since 1972.

No. 41 — 2005-06 Liberty

LIBERTY, Ill. — Coming off a third-place finish at the Class A state tournament and returning the area’s most dominant big man, expectations were understandably high for the Liberty boys basketball team entering the 2005-06 season.

“We were all very confident,” said Justin Brock, the all-state forward who was a senior that season.

Staying confident after a season-opening loss became the challenge.

Despite Brock scoring a career-high 40 points, the Eagles suffered a 65-63 loss to Griggsville-Perry in the opening round of the Suns Classic when Michael Risley hit a 15-foot jumper from the right baseline as time expired.

“It was the biggest hit to the jaw,” Brock said. “It was gut-wrenching. It was eye-opening. From there, the guards were like, ‘OK, we can’t just give Brock the ball and let him go score a bunch of points.’ … Taking that loss in the season opener coming off a state appearance shocked us.

“We needed that slap in the face to really get on track.”

The guards needed to show the same confidence they had playing most of the summer without Brock, who was playing with his AAU team and receiving NCAA Division I recruiting interest.

“We had to find out who we were and how we were going to come together,” said Jeff Kasparie, who coached Liberty from 1998-2010.

That truly began in the summer with Brock absent.

“It actually made our team better in the long run,” Kasparie said. “Kids had to fill his role or fill his slot, and when he did rejoin us in the fall, man, we had a couple different things we could do.”

It led to the Eagles gaining confidence.

“They got to shine,” Kasparie said.

It prepared them for the late-season challenges postseason nail-biters as much as going head-to-head in practice with the likes of Joe Starnes, Gavin Huber and Travis Knuffman during the 2004-05 had.

“Coach Kasparie did a great job of splitting us up in practice,” Brock said. “It was me and those younger guys versus the seniors. We would have some great scrimmages. They’d win some, we’d win some. It really went back and forth. I think Coach did a great job giving them that experience. They didn’t get a lot of in-game experience the year prior, but they got a lot of that in practice. Our practices were very competitive.”

Kasparie remembers how the underclassmen wouldn’t back down.

“Those guys came into practice daily and just got after it,” Kasparie said.

It’s why Chris Starnes, Wade Pellman, Josh Baucom and others were prepared to meet expectations and drive the Eagles to a 26-6 record and a return to the Class A super-sectionals, where they lost 56-37 to Carlyle. Those 26 victories are tied for the fourth most in program history.

Brock earned all-state honors, averaging 23.5 points and 12.9 rebounds per game while becoming the Eagles’ all-time leading scorer after committing to Eastern Illinois University. 

Brock transferred to Quincy University and helped the Hawks to an NCAA Tournament berth as a junior, averaging 14.9 points and 8.4 rebounds. As a senior, he averaged 17.7 points and 8.1 rebounds and earned first-team All-Great Lakes Valley Conference honors.

“It doesn’t hurt to have someone is 6-foot-8 with some skills to help everyone else along,” Kasparie said.

Nor does it hurt to get knocked down as long as you get back up.

“We responded well to getting slapped in the face,” Brock said.