50 After 50: Proving success was no fluke, No. 9 Eagles produce magical postseason run in ’81

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. 9 — 1980-81 Liberty

LIBERTY, Ill. — Dion Neisen remembers leaving Liberty High School and heading home on a Friday afternoon in late February 1981.

In a few hours, his unranked Eagles would be playing No. 9 Quincy Notre Dame in the championship game of the regional basketball tournament in The Pit

Liberty had lost to QND by two points in double-overtime in this very game the year before at Brown County and came up five points short on the Raiders’ home court the month before. A senior, he knew this could be his final game.

Not that he was feeling the weight of the moment.

“We lived on a farm, so there were cows to milk and chores to do,” Neisen said. “I figured we would know in about four hours who is going to win that game.

“Once you got there and got on the court, you didn’t think about who was going to win or lose. All you’re thinking about is playing your hearts out, and whatever the outcome is, it is. There’s no changing it.”

Liberty forced QND into 17 turnovers, limited the taller Raiders to just three field goals in the fourth quarter and sank 14 of 16 free throws down the stretch to turn a squeaker into a rout, winning 58-43 to claim only the second regional title in school history.

Neisen, a center who played taller than his 6-foot-2 frame, scored 19 points against a QND front line of 6-7 John Lubbe, 6-6 Dan McCaughey and 6-4 Mike Siebers after milking cows and doing chores. His cousin, guard Jerry Neisen, added 18.

It propelled the Eagles on a magical postseason run that didn’t end until the final day of the season, when they lost a heartbreaker to Dunlap in the Class A state semifinals and, emotionally and physically spent, were no match for Cairo in the third-place game three hours later.

The fourth-place finish was the best showing for any area school outside of Quincy since Griggsville also placed fourth in 1928. The 27-6 record at the time was the best in school history.

“The ’81 team was a very close-knit group,” said Doug Elledge, an assistant to Coach Paul Kreke that season. “They got along well. They were a very loose group, relaxed, nothing seemed to bother them. No obstacle was too big. You go play the game, there’s another team over there, it didn’t matter too much who they were.

“We probably beat some teams we shouldn’t have beaten along the way because of that.”

Liberty was no fluke, having finished 23-4 the season before, but it lost Dion’s brother, Todd, to graduation.

“I think we had a better team in ’80 than we did in ’81, honestly,” Dion Neisen said. “I think if we had gotten by Notre Dame, we would have gotten to state.”

Still, the Eagles had four seniors returning — Dion and Jerry Neisen, 6-3 forward Blaine Roe and 5-10 forward Sam Ormond — to go along with junior guard Jeff Owen. As the season progressed, 6-2 sophomore Dennis Klingele became instrumental in their success.

Liberty was quick, could score off its press and had enough weapons to also play a halfcourt game despite its smallish size. Roe and Dion Neisen were ferocious rebounders. Defense was stressed.

“We never had any big stars,” said Dion Neisen, who averaged 16.9 points per game, just behind his cousin. “We were not relying on one guy. Nobody cared who scored. Winning ballgames was the big thing.

“I remember Kreke telling us boys he wanted to get up 80 shots a night. We pressed a lot. We averaged over 70 points a game my senior year. And he was pissed off if we had more than 10 turnovers a game. That’s unheard of today.”

Liberty took an 11-2 record into its first meeting with QND in mid-January. The Raiders prevailed, 60-55, but Kreke afterward called it “a moral victory.”

That game convinced the Eagles they could play with the Raiders on their floor when the regional rolled around.

They crushed West Pike in the regional opener 73-48 with Roe scoring 18 points. They scored 13 unanswered points in the third quarter — Roe led four players in double figures with 23 points — to pull away from Camp Point Central in the semifinals 71-56.

“We already had beaten Central three times,” Dion Neisen said. “Kreke told us that was the game we had to worry about, not Notre Dame. It’s hard to beat a team four times.”

After dispatching QND in the finals the next night, Liberty learned the other three top regional seeds feeding into the Lewistown Sectional also had been defeated.

Lewistown, which had lost to Havana twice during the regular, would be the next opponent instead of the Ducks, who reached the state semifinals four times between 1978-83, twice making the title game.

Lewistown was good, entering the postseason ranked 14th. The offensive-minded Indians had four players averaging double figures in scoring, led by 6-5 center Joe Coleman, the most valuable player of the Western-Macomb Holiday Tournament in December, at 19.5 points per game.

Plus, 23-win Lewistown would be playing on its home court.

“I still remember riding up to Lewistown on the bus,” Elledge said. “We get there, and the parking lot is full, like a movie premier. We walked in and it was crazy.”

Liberty broke out to a 36-24 halftime lead behind the scoring of Klingele, who came off the bench to score 21 points, and Dion Neisen. Coleman scored 12 of his team’s 14 points in the first quarter but picked up his fourth foul with 2:18 to go in the opening half and sat out until the final period.

“Coach told me and Blaine to go after (Coleman), to try to get some fouls on him,” Dion Neisen said. “We wanted to get him out of the game.”

Liberty held on to win 67-61 in a game that got physical down the stretch as Lewistown repeatedly fouled – often flagrantly. Dion Neisen finished with 19 points and Owen 14 as the Eagles made 21 of 44 field goal tries and 25 of 32 free throws.

That set up a sectional championship game against Sciota Northwestern. The 26-win Huskies opted to start the game playing Liberty man-to-man, until the Eagles broke out to a quick 12-4 lead. They were up 33-26 at the half and 45-39 after three quarters despite a rash of turnovers.

Still, Northwestern cut the deficit to 57-55 with 58 seconds left when Dean Barrett hit a desperation shot from the top of the key. Jerry Neisen answered with a free throw and Klingele added a fast-break layup with 19 seconds to go to help preserve a 62-59 victory.

“The sectional was no cakewalk,” Dion Neisen said. “That was our toughest two games. We were good, but for a little school like us, you still had to have some luck on your side.

“When we found out we were playing Pittsfield (in the Macomb Super-Sectional), it was a weight off my shoulders. I told myself, ‘We can beat those guys.’ I had a lot of confidence we could get to the Elite Eight.”

Pittsfield had reached the state quarterfinals the year before and had won eight of its previous nine games to improve to 18-9. But the retooling Saukees led only once in the super-sectional, 10-8, before falling 56-43.

Klingele, inserted into the starting lineup, made all seven field goal attempts to finish with 14 points to go along with nine rebounds. Through six postseason games, he had made 24 of 31 field goal tries and 12 of 16 free throws to boost his season scoring average to 10 points a game.

“Schools were looking to shut down me and Jerry,” Dion Neisen said. “Dennis was another threat and took the heat off us. And he had some size, which helped us.”

Liberty, with just 226 students, was the smallest school in the Elite Eight field – on and off the court. Pana was its quarterfinal matchup for the final game of the first session at the Assembly Hall.

“They walked out of the tunnel and someone — I don’t remember who — looked around and said, ‘This place could sure hold a lot of hay,’ ” Elledge said. “They were loose.”

Dion Neisen scored all his 15 points in the first half, but his long outlet passes to Owen against Pana’s pressure was the difference.

Owen scored most of his 23 points off transition, including two fast-break layups to open the third quarter. Seven unanswered points by Jerry Neisen, who finished with 17, allowed Liberty to open a 43-28 lead and hold on for a 67-61 victory.

“I was confident we could beat Dunlap (in the semifinals),” Dion Neisen said. “We were going to be playing for first or second place.”

Liberty led for much of the game and was ahead 41-33 with over five minutes to play in the fourth quarter and had the ball with the chance to go up 10. Roe drove the right baseline, only for his short pullup jumper to be blocked out of bounds.

The referee, believing Liberty was too slow to prepare to inbound the ball from under its own basket, put it on the floor and began the five-count. Owen’s hurried inbounds pass eluded Jerry Neisen and went out of bounds.

“With that close of a game, come on,” said Dion Neisen, who was saddled with four fouls and was scoreless in the fourth quarter after netting 17 points. “That SOB cost us the game.”

That play, which led to a Bill Seiler basket, wasn’t all that cost Liberty. After going up 43-35, it scored only two points during the final 4:57 and committed uncharacteristic turnovers. Still, two free throws by Owen with 1:15 to go gave Liberty a 45-42 cushion.

Seiler drove for a layup to cut the deficit to one and batted the ball away from Owen from behind with Liberty trying to hold it on its side of the floor with 25 seconds left. Seiler then drove the right baseline and Dion Neisen was whistled for his fifth foul trying to draw a charge with 14 seconds remaining.

Seiler sank both free throws to put Dunlap up 46-45. Liberty rushed the ball across midcourt and called timeout with 10 seconds remaining. The play called for Jerry Neisen, a 78 percent free-throw shooter, to get the final shot or be fouled.

But the defense forced him all the way to the right baseline. Cut off with no shot available, his pass to the lane while falling out of bounds was intercepted.

The loss snapped Liberty’s 12-game winning streak dating to the final five games of the regular season.

“It took the wind out of our sails,” Dion Neisen said. “We were devastated.

“We should have beaten Dunlap. It’s tough every time I watch it. We would have matched up much better with Madison (in the championship game) than we did with Cairo. They were so big.”

Dion Neisen scored 19 points against Anthony Webster and Company, but Cairo used a 23-8 run to open a 43-27 halftime lead en route to an 81-54 victory in the third-place game, it’s 30^th in 35 games.

“It was a Cinderella story, it really was,” Dion Neisen said. “Look at it any way you want, it was a great accomplishment. All we ever wanted to do was play ball. You still feel proud to walk in (the Liberty gym) and see your name and the banner.”

Quincy College coach Sherrill Hanks, who knew Dion Neisen from his years of playing in the River City Basketball Camp, asked him to walk on and play for the Hawks after high school.

“He told me, ‘I’d love to have you come play for us, but I can’t give you any money,’ ” Dion Neisen said. “My parents didn’t have two nickels to rub together. They couldn’t afford to send me to college.”

After working for Sparks & Wiewel for 18 years, Dion Neisen, now 59, started his own road and bridge construction company, County Contractors, Inc., in 2004. 

The firm employs 20 full-time workers year-around and up to 50 more during the heart of the construction season. He said it does $10 million to $12 million worth of work annually, primarily for the Illinois Department of Transportation.

He also farms 2,000 acres with his brother, Todd.