Eastland’s impressive run back to the Class 1A state semifinals came to an end after a 61-43 loss to Lawrenceville in the third-place game on Thursday night.

The Indians (35-3) used a 14-4 advantage in the second quarter and closed the fourth quarter 17-10 to win the third-place contest at State Farm Center in Champaign. Lawrenceville won the turnover battle 19-5, scoring 29 points off of turnovers.

The Cougars (32-7) briefly led in the first quarter, but it was another mostly one-sided setback after a 66-38 loss to Chicago Marshall earlier in the day.

Despite a tough showing against two impressive teams to close the season, the Cougars still took home back-to-back state trophies for the first time.

“When the dust kind of settles from the weekend, there’s going to be a lot to look back at on this season,” Eastland coach Tyler Zumdahl said. “A lot of positives, a lot of good memories, a lot of battles.

“Very fortunate to coach and go through those battles with this group of young men.”

Lawrenceville was led by Zander Cessna’s 18 points, while Jayden Goff and Jacek Mickiewicz had 12.

“We knew they were going to be good. Their length and skill is really unique,” Zumdahl said. “We did some good things on them at times but players of that caliber find a way to make plays, and they did that.”

Zumdahl said it was good to see his team fight after being eliminated from state title contention earlier in the day. Eastland cut the deficit to four points in the third quarter, but the Indians answered.

“It comes down to just a lot of will and want-to in this game after the state title dreams go by the wayside,” Zumdahl said. “It was good for these guys to put their ability on display and show some flashes of the team that we were for most of the year.”

Parker Krogman led Eastland with 13 points, Zy Haverland (nine rebounds) added 10 and Perry Stoner had a nice game with 10 points on 5 of 7 shooting.

Krogman finished his career as Eastland’s all-time leading scorer.

“The last four years have been some of the most fun I’ve ever had in my life with these guys,” he said. “Learning and growing throughout this program, just playing with my best friends is something that I’ll never forget.”

Braden Anderson said it’s meant a lot to get back to this point. He was one of four starting seniors and six seniors on the team.

“Those are my best friends. We spent countless hours with each other,” Anderson said. “I’m almost tearing up just thinking about it, thinking that we won’t be able to play one more minute with each other. But it’s just meant a lot to me, coming down to state.”

Eastland went up against a strong pair of teams in this year’s Final Four.

“It shows a lot of hard work and determination to try to get back here,” Anderson said. “After last year, we weren’t happy that we didn’t win it. Everybody grinded and worked hard to try to get back here, and we did.”

“I thought 1A was really strong this year,” Zumdahl said. “It was kind of fun to be up towards the top of the rankings and have our name in the hat. We played about as tough a non-conference schedule as we could have. We came up short in most of those games against the elite teams. We did things well for stretches or parts of the game, and that was no different today. We just were not consistent enough.”

After replacing three starters from last year’s state runner-up finish, the Cougars battled their way back.

“I think we were doubted from as soon as last season ended,” Anderson said. “I don’t think people thought we were going to come back here. I think it shows the future kids that if you work hard and you have the determination, anything’s possible.”

Zumdahl said it’s been a blast with this year’s group and proving it can get back to state.

“I don’t think anybody thought we would get back here, he said. ”But these guys believed, this team believed. They put the work in from day one to get better in their new roles and push each other every single day in practice.

“It was a ton of fun to show up and watch these guys compete every day.”