Flyin’ high: Determined Eagles take sting out of Hornets to advance to Class 1A state title game

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Greg Altmix was agitated, and he had no problem telling his Liberty boys basketball team why.

The veteran head coach scanned the Class 1A all-state teams released Wednesday by the Associated Press and didn’t see any of his players on the first or second team despite their upcoming appearance in the final four.

“I’m like, ‘Look, here’s a Scales Mound player on the all-state team and Yorkville Christian has two,’” Altmix said Thursday after his team thumped No. 2-ranked Scales Mound 75-41 in a state semifinal game at the University of Illinois’ State Farm Center. “I said at the beginning of the season the stats were going to be spread out, so we’re not going to have anybody that’s going to have great stats. But I told them, ‘Right now, several of you guys are good enough to be on that team.’”

What rankled Altmix even more was the idea Scales Mound was the overwhelming media favorite to win Thursday.

“That bothered me,” Altmix said. “I understand, but I’m pissed when other people pick our opponent.”

It added fuel to the Eagles’ fire.

“What made us comfortable is nobody had us winning,” senior forward Logan Robbins said. “We had no pressure on us. We didn’t say, ‘Hey, we have to win this game.’ We just said we were going to prove people wrong.”

The proof was in the end result. Fourth-ranked Liberty scored the game’s first 10 points, built a 22-point lead by halftime and was never threatened. The victory earns the Eagles (30-5) the chance to play for the first state championship in school history.

“It’s unbelievable,” Liberty senior forward Breiton Klingele said. “I’m going to have to actually get there to feel it.”

Liberty will face top-ranked Yorkville Christian (23-13) and Duke recruit Jaden Schutt at 11 a.m. Saturday in the state title game.

Asked about getting hit by the reality of the moment, Robbins said, “Not yet. This postseason hasn’t hit me. Probably just today it hit me that we were going to state. With this team, it’s just a blur because it’s been so fun. Like I said earlier, making memories. You just live it.”

Yorkville Christian will be an overwhelming favorite, having beaten its postseason opponents by an average of 44 points.

That doesn’t seem so daunting to the Eagles, at least not senior forward Devin Klauser.

“We’re just hoping that we hit them early and we can slow down the game and keep the lead,” Klauser said. “It’s going to be interesting. They are obviously a really good team, but I think we can take them.”

Another strong start will help.

Klingele scored on a layin off the game’s opening tip, banked in a shot from the right and then watched Klauser, Clayton Obert and Cannen Wolf score in succession for a 10-0 lead.

“It helped us being able to show a team we’re coming to play,” said Klingele, who finished with 17 points. “It helps us out by showing us we can come in and take these guys.”

The mental edge was as important as the double-digit lead.

“I told (Liberty teammate) Eli Powell last night, ‘You get off to a really good start or you get dropped in the first because of the nerves,’” Robbins said. “I remember seeing the 2015-16 team come out against LeRoy and not hit. I put that mental note in my mind. You’ve got to come out and hit. Get a layup. Be the first one to score. Don’t get left in the dust. The start was huge for us.”

Scales Mound (35-3) committed five consecutive turnovers in that stretch, then endured a 16-possession stretch from late in the first quarter to late in the second quarter in which the Hornets scored just four points, committed five turnovers and went 2 of 14 from the field.

The Hornets shot 28 percent from the field (7 of 25) and 14.3 percent from 3-point range (1 of 7) in falling behind 37-15 at halftime.

“I could tell they were a little nervous on the offensive end,” Klingele said. “On the defensive end, they were a little bit nervous, too.”

The Hornets never recovered from the opening barrages of mistakes.

“I feel like the first couple of passes that got tipped got in their head,” said Robbins, who held Scales Mound all-stater Benjamin Vandigo to three points. “We saw the reaction on their face, and we were like, ‘OK, we can be a little more aggressive in certain spots.’”

That was certainly the case on the boards. Liberty outrebounded Scales Mound 41-20 with Klauser grabbing eight rebounds to go along with his game-high 24 points. The Eagles grabbed 15 offensive rebounds and turned them into 19 second-chance points.

It’s the type of effort that’s turning state championship dreams into reality.

“It feels awesome,” Klingele said. “I’m really excited to play in there and see what happens.”