High School

Illinois boys basketball teams holds ball for first 6:59, wins section title game 36-31

Amid booing, sneering, Eastland stays convicted to game plan, holds state's highest scoring 1A team 44 points below season average to avenge season-ending defeat in 2023-24

Mitch Stephens

Eastland (Ill.) Parker Krogman holds ball in the first quarter of his team's 36-31 win in sectional final Friday March 7.
Eastland (Ill.) Parker Krogman holds ball in the first quarter of his team's 36-31 win in sectional final Friday March 7. / Photo: Screenshot from @JShumanTV

If you can’t beat ‘em, frustrate ‘em. Or at least slow them down. And by slow them down, we mean say nothing, do nothing, just hold the ball and stare at them. 

Essentially that’s what a small division boys basketball team from Lanark, Ill., population 1,500, did in a Friday night sectional final to eliminate the top-ranked 1A team in the state. 

The Cougars of Eastland held the ball for the first 6 minutes, 59 seconds to slow down the normally frenetic-paced Indians of Pecatonica, leading to a score of 1-0 at the end of the first quarter. 

"Stall Ball" continued the rest of the way and it proved a perfect plan as Eastland pulled out a bizarre and highly strategic 36-31 victory to advance to the Supersectional final on Monday, one win from the state tournament. 

It was the ultimate payback against the highest scoring 1A team in the state (74.9 per game) that 13 times had scored more than 80 points this season and three times over 90, including 102-52 over Forreston on Feb. 4 and 113-30 over Durand on Jan. 27. 

Friday, according to this report by Jay Taft of the Rockford Register Star, they watched the Cougars make 14 of their 22 shots while avenging a season-ending 60-50 defeat to the Indians last season. In fact, Pecatonica had defeated Eastland six straight times, including 67-36 and 63-55 earlier this season. 

The Cougars played Pecatonica — affectionately known as “Pec” around the state — straight up the first two times, but coach Tyler Zumdahl had planned the “Snail Ball” attack with everything riding on the season. 

It worked flawlessly, thanks in part to 14 points from Zyacn Haverland, and holding the Indians 44 points below their scoring average.  

While the Pec home crowd booed and sneered at the tactic enthusiastically, the Eastland players remained patient and strong throughout and celebrated with their hundreds of home fans whole-heartedly after receiving the section championship hardware. 

“We’ve got off to terrible starts the first two times, so we had to do something different,” Zumdahl told reporters after. “We had to slow the tempo down. We were still willing to score if they were willing to guard. They didn’t want to do that so we kinda rolled with it. And the guys executed. They didn’t get rattled. They stayed the course. And got it done.” 

Said senior point guard Peyton Spears: “It’s been a long time coming. We had to switch it up. It was no secret to what our game plan was. We had to bring them out. We had to make them guard. They’re one of the best offenses in the state and we had to limit that. They’re averaging so many points and you drag it out like that. If I was them I’d be frustrated.” 

According to Taft, Pec coach Bobby Heisler didn’t want to comment on any of it. 

Eastland junior Braden Anderson said “It feels amazing to come out with a win. I could tell from the start when their fans started booing, it was our night. You could tell (their) players really didn’t know what to do. Keeping it slow really helped.” 

Zumdahl couldn’t contain his pride. 

“The emotions are incredible,” he told reporters. “I’m so incredibly proud of this group of guys. Ever since we lost that section final last year. They made it a goal to get back. And made it a goal to win. They did everything they needed to do from that day forward.” 

Right down to do nothing. …. For 6 minutes, 59 seconds.

manual

Published
Mitch Stephens
MITCH STEPHENS

Mitch Stephens is a senior editor at SBLive Sports for California, a state he's covered high school sports since 1984. He won multiple CNPA and CPSWA writing awards with the Contra Costa Times, San Francisco Chronicle and MaxPreps.com before joining the SBLive staff in 2022. He's covered the beat nationally since 2007, profiling such athletes as Derrick Henry, Paige Bueckers, Patrick Mahomes, Sabrina Ionescu, Jayson Tatum, Chiney Ogwumike, Jeremy Lin and Najee Harris as preps. You can reach him at mitch@scorebooklive.com.

Home/Illinois