50 After 50: No. 25 Suns survive brutal regional in Hancock County before running into Havana

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. 25: 1977-78 Southeastern

AUGUSTA, Ill. — Before the 1977-78 Southeastern basketball team could even think about being one of the best teams in the state, it had to become the best team in Hancock County.

The Suns entered postseason play with a 24-1 record by surviving all the games they played against county schools. LaHarpe and Hamilton both were 19-4 before the regional began, and Nauvoo-Colusa was 17-6.

“It was a tough game every night in Hancock County back then,” said Rod Bruenger, a senior on the 1977-78 Suns.

Southeastern claimed the Hancock County Tournament championship in January, but the Suns’ 22-game winning streak to start the season ended when LaHarpe stunned them 62-57 on Feb. 11. Jeff Jones had 30 points and 31 rebounds for LaHarpe that night.

“Being undefeated was a lot of pressure in our eyes,” Bruenger said. “We didn’t want to screw it up, but it took a little pressure off us when we lost.”

Despite that loss, the Suns had established themselves as the team to beat in west-central Illinois that season. They opened the season by winning the Meredosia Tournament — a tournament they entered because they would get a chance to play East St. Louis Lincoln, which later dropped out. Bruenger thought one of the biggest games of the year came on Dec. 16 when the Suns held off a talented Liberty team 47-38. 

“We went to their place and won. I think we thought we might have a chance to be pretty good,” Bruenger said. 

Bruenger and junior Craig Cheney were the only Suns to average in double figures. Southeastern’s strength that season was its defense. Seniors Bob Rankin and Eric Kirbach joined junior Paul Myers to create a team that typically kept opponents in the 40s.

“We played a lot of 1-3-1 zone,” Suns coach Mike Fray said. “Bruenger played the front of it, Myers played the middle and Cheney played to baseline. Rankin and Kirbach played the wings. You probably only got one shot against us, because if Paul screened his man out, that kept their big player off the boards. And Bruenger was really, really good at the top of the zone.”

Bruenger gives plenty of credit to Fray, who was in his third season at the school.

“Fray was a huge difference,” he said. “We learned about grittiness, toughness, expectations. I’ve told several people that when I played for him, there were times nobody hated him worse than I did. Since then, now I go to a high school game and I can’t sit and watch it. The stuff that was instilled in me playing for him, I don’t see it any more in a ball game. It drives me crazy.

“Ragan (Bruenger’s son, who also starred at Southeastern) played for a couple of hard-nosed coaches. One of them was Mike Elbe (at John Wood Community College). He loves Elbe now, and Elbe was pushing Ragan to get the most that he could get. I get that now, but I didn’t get it in when I played for Fray, and Ragan didn’t get it when he played for Elbe.” 

Southeastern started postseason play by defeating Carthage for the third time that season by a 75-48 margin in the regional opener at Hamilton. As expected, the rematch with LaHarpe in the semifinals was a thriller. 

Myers’ three-point play with 2:42 to go in the game put the Suns ahead 53-51. LaHarpe missed two chances to tie the score, but with 33 seconds remaining, Marty McKee stole the ball and went in for a layup to tie the score at 53. Cheney missed a shot with 10 seconds to play, but Rankin grabbed the offensive rebound and scored with five seconds remaining for the winning points in a 55-53 decision. The Suns limited Jones to 18 points.

Southeastern trailed Hamilton 12-2 after five minutes in the regional title game, and Cheney and Rankin were on the bench with three fouls each. However, reserves Donnie Fray and John Launer combined for 22 of the Suns’ 32 first-half points, giving Southeastern a six-point halftime lead. The Suns went on to win 63-56.

“We called timeout (trailing 12-2), and it was so loud,” Mike Fray said. “(Hamilton) had all their people sitting behind our bench, and we had to go clear out on the middle of floor just to be able to be heard. Donnie and John really picked us up that night.”

Southeastern’s season ended with a 27-2 record after a 66-58 loss to Havana in the Macomb Sectional semifinals at Western Hall. The Ducks, who went on to lose to Nashville in the state championship game, shot 57 percent from the floor. Rankin led the Suns with 18 points. Kirbach and Cheney had 15 each. Havana limited Bruenger to five points.

“We thought we were pretty good until we faced Havana and found out different,” Bruenger said. “Man, that team was real good, and we quite honestly didn’t play really well. Had I not played like crap, we might have had a chance to beat them. I had a hard time adjusting to the rims out in the middle of a gym like that. I’d never played in a situation like that before. I never did get adjusted. But they had more horses. That’s the bottom line.

“It was fun while it lasted.”