Matt Trowbridge
Rockford Register Star
Published 12:45 p.m. CT March 11, 2023
CHAMPAIGN — Scales Mound overcame one huge run to start the game. It couldn’t overcome a second one, falling 64-45 to Waterloo Gibault in Saturday’s Class 1A state boys basketball championship game.
Scales Mound (33-6) was trying to become the first NUIC team to ever win a state boys basketball title. The only other conference team to reach the state finals was 2003 Class A runner-up Mt. Carroll.
Waterloo Gibault (32-7) jumped to a quick 16-2 lead. Second-team All-Stater Thomas Hereau led a stirring comeback that saw Scales Mound take the lead four times in the third quarter in an impressive shooting explosion by both teams.
Waterloo Gibault made its first five shots of the third quarter, four of them 3s. Scales Mound made five of its first six shots, four of them 3s. The lead changed hand eight times in four minutes. But then Scales Mound slowed down. Waterloo Gibault never did.
Gibault used another big run, this time 17-2, to build a 53-39 lead and was never in danger again. Waterloo Gibault made 13 of its first 16 shots of the second half, six of them 3-pointers.
Hereau, scoreless in the first quarter, poured in 16 points in the second to cut an early 19-5 deficit to 25-23 at halftime. Hereau made all six of his shots in the quarter, including a trio of 3-pointers. Even with Waterloo Gibault concentrating on him, he’d pop behind a screen for a 3 or hit a step-back 3 with a man in his face. And he ended the half with a steal and a pass to Jacob Duerr, whose 3-pointer at the buzzer bounced off the front rim.
Scales Mound reached the state finals by holding third-place finisher Tuscola to 8-for-40 shooting. Waterloo Gibault shot three times better than that in its semifinal blowout win, including 50 points on 23-for-34 shooting by its stars Kaden Augustine, Kameron Hanvy and Gavin Kessler. Hanvy also set a Class 1A tournament record with nine assists.
Gibault was even hotter Saturday. It wasn’t just shooting. Gibault also led eight rebounds to two and Scales Mound had five fouls to zero for Gibault after the first quarter.
The advantage in those other numbers narrowed once Dylan Slavenburg, a 6-8 exchange student from The Netherlands, came off the bench and Hereau got hot. But once Gibault started raining in 3s, a Scales Mound team known for its defense had no defensive answers.
It stayed close as long as Gibault had no answers for Hereau. But once Hereau scored the final two of his 24 points — pulling the Hornets to within 41-39 in the last minute of the third quarter — it was all Waterloo Gibault.
Contact: mtrowbridge@rrstar.com or 815-987-1383. Matt Trowbridge has covered sports for the Rockford Register Star for over 30 years, after previous stints in North Dakota, Delaware, Vermont and Iowa City.
