YORKVILLE – Tyler Burrows, it was revealed in Yorkville Christian’s senior night festivities, is apparently quite the early riser.

It is routine for the senior guard to show up well before school to put up shots. Head coach Aaron Sovern told the crowd Burrows arrives right after he does.

“That wasn’t information I wanted people to hear, but yes, I am here early,” Burrows said with a slight smile. “I get that from my brother. He’s big on getting to the gym early, especially if you’re going to the next level. You have to be really locked into what you’re doing.”

Burrows and the Mustangs have indeed put in the work this season.

Yorkville Christian played an absolute gauntlet of a schedule loaded up with powerhouse larger-school teams. The Mustangs have taken their hits. But they appear to have come out of it the better for it, steeled for a run at a state championship.

The Mustangs followed up an impressive win Tuesday over Chicago Catholic League heavyweight St. Ignatius with an 83-61 blowout of South Beloit in the regular-season finale on Wednesday at The Canyon.

Duke recruit Jaden Schutt, in his final regular-season home game, had 25 points and nine rebounds. Burrows added 20 points, six steals and four assists and a third senior, KJ Vasser had 18 points for Yorkville Christian (17-13), which won for the fifth time in six games going into the postseason. David Douglas Jr. added 10 points.

“Our 30-game schedule was like a wrecking ball,” Vasser said. “We played so many strong teams that now going into the playoffs we have seen it all. I think that really helps us.”

What the Mustangs have not seen much of this season is fellow Class 1A teams. South Beloit (24-6), a No. 1 seed in a sub-sectional of the Pecatonica Sectional, was just the fourth 1A opponent the Mustangs have faced, and by far the best.

The SoBos had the size to give the Mustangs problems. Bradley Knepper, a 6-foot-4, 300-pound senior, had 19 points and 10 rebounds. Ross Robertson, a 6-7 freshman, had 22 points and 11 rebounds.

But they had no answer for Yorkville Christian’s pressure.

The Mustangs forced eight turnovers in the first quarter alone. Burrows was the catalyst with 10 points and three steals as Yorkville Christian got out to a 16-8 lead. Schutt got cooking in the second quarter with 13 of his 25 and the first of his three dunks off a feed from Burrows as the cushion was extended to 42-24 by halftime.

“It’s our game plan. You do what you can against teams you can do that to. That’s how we go about it,” Burrows said. It’s what we’ve been doing since last year. It was nice, good to put it on them for our fans.”

Yorkville Christian has been a little more judicious with its pressure against elite 4A teams like New Trier. But the Mustangs unleashed it Wednesday after a sluggish first few minutes against a South Beloit team perfectly content to milk the clock and pound it inside.

“Definitely a contrast in styles,” Sovern said. “They have a couple guys with really good size. We knew it would give us trouble and we couldn’t just let them stand and loft it in so we went back to some old school pressure running and jumping and being able to get the tempo going in our favor and tire them out. They’re a good team and they have some big boys.”

South Beloit has fared respectably against other highly-regarded 1A schools. The SoBos lost by just 47-37 to Scales Mound, a team that recently supplanted Yorkville Christian as the No. 1 team in Class 1A by the Associated Press.

But they were outmatched by Yorkville Christian’s quickness, athleticism and talent. Vasser hit four of Yorkville Christian’s 11 threes, three of them coming in the second half. Schutt and the rest of the Yorkville Christian starters were out by midway through the fourth quarter.

It came a night after Schutt scored 35 in an 82-72 win over St. Ignatius.

“Straight momentum. That’s what you need going into the playoffs is momentum,” Vasser said. “A win like that really helps us.”

Indeed, Sovern likes where his team is at with the playoffs starting Saturday.

“Our goals never changed. It was playing in March, playing in Champaign. We’re playing for these last eight games,” Sovern said. “If we get clicking on all cylinders we’ll be really dangerous. Get defensive focus consistently and shoot well, I like our chances against a lot of teams.”