How two schools turned a late-season basketball game into something more

FARMINGTON — Call it a postseason tune-up.

Illini Bluffs, the No. 4 team in Class 1A, went into a hostile, sectional-type atmosphere last week and came away with a 55-49 victory over Class 2A opponent Farmington.

Both teams agreed: This was the perfect prelude to the boys basketball postseason, which starts Saturday across Illinois.

“Every kid’s a weapon,” Farmington coach Marty Lozier said of the Clay Vass-coached IB. “I think this is going to be, hopefully, a big springboard for us. That’s probably one of the best teams we’ve played all year. … I think he’s got a good chance to go far with those guys.”

But the scheduled date of this game was very intentional.

Why they played in February

For years, these neighboring districts — separated by less than 20 miles — met prior to the two teams heading off to the Macomb-Western Holiday Tournament before the new year. Once Vass took over the program, he worked on then-Farmers head coach and current athletics director Jeff Otto to move the game.

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First, it was the last week of January, then it was bumped even later to the early part of February.

“We felt like the best time for us to play would be going into the postseason,” said Vass, the 10th-year coach, “This game was by design to be played this time of year.”

The intensity of the meeting, as well as playing at the bigger Farmington gymnasium provided IB with "more of a sectional-like gym," according to Vass. The Tigers (23-4) have goals to make it back to the sectional — played at the famed Bushnell-Prairie City bowl with a nearly 2,300 overall capacity — for the first time since 2018.

Two sectional victories would put Illini Bluffs in the Elite Eight — in the supersectional at the historic Jacksonville Bowl, which seats up to 2,500 comfortably.

“This was the right time to get a win like this against a 2A school,” IB junior Hank Alvey said. “If you haven’t figured it out already, we’re one of the best in the state and this was a statement win.”

Now, these two teams will go their separate ways with the same goal of making a postseason. Farmington heads to the Savanna West Carroll Regional as the third seed. IB is the top seed at the Lewistown Regional.

Each, though, will take the lessons learned from this Tuesday night meeting in February.

“You have to prepare the kids not only to play defense, offense or your opponent,” Vass said, “but environment is huge.”

How the game was won

Like they have done to many of its opponents this season, Illini Bluffs used its length and size to cause Farmington all sorts of fits with 13 turnovers. The IB starting five, which doesn’t have a player under 6-foot-3, accounted for all but one basket in the win. Toby Cooper scored a team-high 18 points with Alvey chipping in 10 points and nine rebounds, while Devon White added 10.

Brandon Coats contributed eight and Wyatt Hendel scored seven.

“We’ve played big teams before,” Farmington junior Keauntrey Barnes said, “but I think that by far had been the biggest team we played.

“That’s a team that will help us in regionals, get into sectionals. That’s a really good team to play.”

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However, the Farmers (19-10) didn’t roll over by any means.

Despite playing with their second-leading scorer Logan Morse (ankle), the game was tied at halftime, was a three-point contest with 75 seconds left and a two-possession affair with 22 seconds remaining.

Barnes kept Farmington right in the game by hitting six 3-pointers. He finished with a game-high 22 points as the Farmers shot 44.4 percent (12-for-27) from behind the arc.

“I feel like I’ve always been a decent shooter,” the 6-foot-6 forward said, “but (Tuesday) really showed that. I don’t really like to shoot a whole like I did but coach gave me the go.”

Adam Duvall is a Journal Star sports reporter. Email him at aduvall@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @AdamDuvall.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: IHSA basketball: Illini Bluffs, Farmington tune up for playoffs