Pecatonica dominates Eastland in battle atop Class 1A rankings

LANARK — In a battle between two undefeated teams at the top of the Class 1A Associated Press rankings, No. 2 Pecatonica looked as if it belonged in a different class against No. 1 Eastland on Thursday night.

The Indians (6-0) scored the first 16 points of the game en route to a 67-36 win over the Cougars (7-1) for the Eastland Holiday Tournament title.

It was also a rematch of last year’s sectional final matchup which the Indians won 60-50. The two teams are on opposite sides of the same 1A sectional again this season with Amboy, West Carroll, Durand and Galena as the regional hosts and Pecatonica the sectional host.

On Thursday, Zion Braimah led Pecatonica’s four players to reach double figures with 19 points in the win, including a 7 of 8 showing at the free throw line.

Parker Krogman led Eastland with 11 points as the Indians' length and physical defense made easy baskets hard to come by for the Cougars all evening.

“[We’ve] got a lot of work to do,” Krogman said. “Hopefully in three months, we can look back and be glad this happened. But right now, back to work.”

Pecatonica was No. 1 in the rankings until Eastland jumped that spot on Wednesday.

The Indians left little doubt they are the better team at this point on Thursday. Cooper Hoffman and Brody Black each scored 10 points and Jordan Gassman added 11. The Indians led 14-0 and 19-7 after the first quarter, eventually eclipsing a 30-point lead to enforce a running clock.

“I don’t want to say they punched us in the mouth, but they got out and they got after it,” Krogman said. “They shot really well, obviously, to start the game and continued that same percentage throughout the whole game.”

Eastland coach Tyler Zumdahl was direct about the results.

“They were ready to go and came out and hit us in the mouth,” he said, “and never let up and we never had a response.”

While Pecatonica denied any easy looks inside, the outside shots just weren’t falling for Eastland, which finished with three triples to the Indians' six.

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Pecatonica's Brody Black puts up a shot against Eastland's Braden Anderson during the second half of their matchup on Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (Erin Henze-Shaw Local News Network)

Adam Awender scored eight points for Eastland and Peyton Spears had six.

Awender, Krogman and Spears all were named to the all-tournament team. Pecatonica’s Hoffman and Jaxon Diedrich were selected.

“They’re a really tall and athletic team,” Krogman said. “They’re really solid defensively.”

Zumdahl said the Indians did “whatever they wanted.”

“We didn’t play well on defense at all,” he said. “They’ve got size and length all over, they’re all athletes, they can all make basketball plays. That’s why they’re the best team in the state.

“We’re not good enough to take any plays off, especially [against] a team like that caliber. We’ve got to be locked in and more intense in everything that we do.”

Eastland still got an early look at a high quality team, one it may face again in the postseason.

“It’s only December, so there is a lot of time to get better,” Zumdahl said, “and obviously we’ve got a lot of work to do.”

Pecatonica coach Bobby Heisler said his team prides itself on defense. It showed in the win.

Offensively, the Indians showed their willingness to spread the scoring load.

“I think it speaks volumes to who our kids are,” Heisler said. “They’re extremely unselfish. They don’t care who scores, they don’t care who the star player of the game is. They only care about one thing and that’s coming together and trying to win a basketball game together as a team.”