High school basketball: Tiny Scales Mound is heading to the Class 1A state title game

CHAMPAIGN — Scales Mound rotated through three different defenses, but it didn’t really matter if Tuscola was closely guarded or wide open. Shots were not falling for the Rockets.

The Hornets, which lost in the Class 1A semifinals last season, knocked off Tuscola 40-27 on Thursday at the State Farm Center to earn a spot in Saturday’s state championship game.

Scales Mound is a fantastic Cinderella story. It’s a village of 436 people in Western Illinois, 11 miles east of Galena. The high school has just 70 students. That’s even small for a Class 1A school.

“We had that kind of once in a lifetime team last year,” Hornets coach Erik Kudronowicz said. “These kids were the number twos that pushed the number ones. We had some pretty intense practices a year ago and I think you see the benefit of it.”

Junior Thomas Hereau led Scales Mound (33-5) with 10 points and senior Jacob Duerr added eight. The Hornets had a rough day shooting as well, finishing just 13-for-46 from the field and 3 of 18 from three-point range.

“[Our practices] aren’t fun, but obviously they help,” Scales Mound senior Charlie Wiegel said. “We aren’t the biggest team so we can’t let them drive past us. If they are bigger and stronger they can finish pretty easily so we have to have good closeouts.”

Sophomore Kam Sweetnam led Tuscola (30-7) with eight points and junior Jordan Quinn added seven points.

“This is a really good shooting team,” Tuscola coach Justin Bozarth said. “That’s probably the strength of our team. Today it wasn’t one of those days.”

The Rockets were 8 of 40 shooting overall and 3-for-23 from three-point range.

“When shots don’t fall we try to keep the defensive energy up,” Quinn said. “Usually the shots will start to fall but today just wasn’t our game obviously.”

Scales Mound will face Gibault in the Class 1A state championship game on Saturday.

Scales Mound 40, Tuscola 27 box score