CHAMPAIGN—The small schools opened Championship Saturday at State Farm Center with a show.
Gibault and Scales Mound played a scintillating third quarter that featured 36 points scored and eight three-pointers.
The Hawks stayed pretty much that hot for most of the game, shooting 61% from the field and 64% from three to win the Class 1A state title with a 65-45 victory.
It’s the first state championship for Gibault (32-7), a school outside of St. Louis, and the first in the 43-year career of coach Dennis Rueter.
“My career wouldn’t have been incomplete [without a state title],” Rueter said. “We’ve had a lot of good things happen. This is just icing on the cake.”
Rueter, is the ninth winningest coach in state history with more than 800 victories.
Scales Mound is a village of 436 people in Northwestern Illinois, 11 miles east of Galena. The high school has just 70 students. That’s even small for a Class 1A school. The Hornets lost in the semifinals last season.
The tiny school was down to Gibault early and surged back in the second quarter.
“We kind of panicked a little bit in the 2Q and got a little flustered when [Scales Mound] made a run,” Rueter said. “It was the state championship. It’s not going to be easy.”
Kaden Augustine led the Hawks with 24 points. Kameron Hanvey added four points, nine rebounds and five steals. Gavin Kesler scored 18 and grabbed seven rebounds and Hudson Blank scored 15.
“We worked so hard for this,” Augustine said. “To actually come true, I can’t believe it.”
Gibault finished second in Class A in 1999, losing to Rock Falls on a late three-pointer.
Junior Thomas Hereau led Scales Mound (33-6) with 24 points. He was 5 for 7 from three-point range.
