1991 Illinois State Basketball Tournament

Contents

Introduction
The teams
The games
The aftermath
The legacy
External References-

The 1991 Illinois State Basketball Tournament was the last tournament ever held before the creation of the Big Ten Conference, which began in July 1992. The tournament was a single-elimination event and consisted of eight teams.

The ihsa Ball State tournament history is the Official Site of the Illinois High School Association. The site provides information about past tournaments and statistics for each game.

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Introduction

The 1991 Illinois high school Association (IHSA) Boys Ball State Tournament was held from March 1416, 1991, at Huff Hall at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. A total of 32 games were played, with one team winning the title.

Class AA

The Class AA competition began on March 14, with four first-round games. Elgin Larkin defeated Peoria Manual in the first game played that day by a score of 7058, followed by a victory for Chicago King over East St. Louis Lincoln by a score of 6153. The second set of games on March 14 saw two more wins, with Proviso West defeating Rock Island Alleman 6554 and Westinghouse beating Evanston Township 5351. The quarterfinal games were played on March 15, with Larkin defeating King 8468 and Proviso West beating Westinghouse 6457. Also on March 15, upset-minded Moline defeated Peoria Central 5452 in the first final game while Larkin downed Proviso West 6761 in the second semifinal.

The Championship game was played on March 16 between Moline and Larkin and was won by Larkin with a final score of 6054. This gave Larkin their first state Basketball Championship in school history.

Class A

The Class A tournament began on March 14 with four first-round games. In the first set of games, Winchester defeated Sesser-Valier 6662 while Hillsboro topped Warrensburg-Latham 6360. The second set of games that day saw Decatur MacArthur defeat Tuscola 5652 and Cairo win big over Marseilles 7748. The quarterfinal games were played on March 15 and saw Winchester fall to Hillsboro 5755 while MacArthur was upset by Cairo 5451. This set up semifinal match-ups of Hillsboro versus Herod (a 58-56 overtime winner over Newton) and Cairo versus Antioch (a 60-54 winner over Quincy Notre Dame).

On March 16, Antioch pulled off another upset when they defeated Herod 65-63 to advance to the state championship game against Cairo where they would win 67-65 to claim their first State basketball title in school history.

The teams

The 1991 Illinois high school Association (IHSA) Boys Basketball Tournament was the 95th annual edition of the tournament. This year’s tournament marked the first time in which four class tournaments were held simultaneously. It also marked the first time the tournament was held entirely within the month of March.

The field expanded to 104 teams, up 24 from the previous year, with each of the four classes having 26 teams qualified. This was also the first year in which schools could qualify by winning 20 games or finishing in second place in their sectional tournaments, as opposed to only winning their sectional tournament outright.

Forfeits caused by ineligible players resulted in two teams being disqualified from the tournament: Thornridge in Class AA and Seton Academy in Class A. Thornridge forfeited all 22 of its wins and was replaced in the AA field by Curie, while Seton Academy forfeited its lone Playoff Game and was replaced by Luther North.

In Class AA, Richards won its first state championship with a 74-60 win over Westinghouse in the title game, while Peoria Manual won its fourth straight Class A crown with a 61-60 victory over Belleville West in that class’ championship contest. In Class B, Elmwood Park captured its first state title with a 54-51 win over Harrisburg, while Century captured the Class C title with a 73-67 victory over Mounds Meridian Hill.

The games

The games were played at the Assembly Hall in Champaign. The Assembly Hall was originally scheduled to host the Class AA tournament, while the newly constructed Peoria Civic Center would host the Class A tournament. However, due to a scheduling conflict, the Class A tournament was moved to Champaign, and the Class AA tournament was played at Illinois State University’s Horton Field House in Normal.

In the quarterfinals, East St. Louis Lincoln defeatedChicago King 8685 in overtime, Westinghouse defeated Belleville East 7568, Proviso East defeated Springfield Southeast 8381 in overtime, and Richards defeated Simeon 6867 on a last second shot. In the semifinals, Lincoln beat Westinghouse 6867 and Proviso East defeated Richards 5453. The Championship game matched Proviso East against Lincoln. Proviso East won 73-57 to take the Class AA state title. This was the school’s first State Basketball title.

The 1991 tournament marked the first time that four African American coaches led their teams to the semifinals (Lincoln’s Ralph Turner, Westinghouse’s Bob Hambric, Southeast’s Willie Nelson and Proviso East’s Andrew Mitchell). It also marked only the second time that two African American coaches met in a Championship game Hambric and Turner had previously met in the 1979 title game, which Hambric’s Westinghouse team won handily 78-60.

The aftermath

The 1991 Illinois boys Ball State Tournament was the subject of a major controversy after it was revealed that one of the teams had used ineligible players and thus had to forfeit its third-place trophy. The event, colloquially known as “Scandal in Champaign”, is widely regarded as one of the biggest scandals in the history of high school sports in the United States

The tournament took place from March 1416 at the Assembly Hall in Champaign, Illinois. It was the first time that the tournament had been held at that venue. East St. Louis Lincoln high school which was making its first appearance in the tournament, won the Class AA title by defeating Proviso East 6758 in the Championship game

Shortly after the tournament ended, it was revealed that two players on Lincoln’s team, Chris Coleman and Derrick Johnson, were ineligible to participate because they had transferred to Lincoln from another school without meeting the required residency requirements. As a result, Lincoln was forced to forfeit its third-place trophy.

The scandal resulted in a number of changes to Illinois’ high school basketball rules, including the requirement that all players must have completed at least one semester at their current school before they are eligible to compete in postseason tournaments

The legacy

In 1991, the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) boys’ Basketball Tournament was mired in controversy after several schools were caught playing ineligible players. As a result, the IHSA stripped four schools of their wins and declared them ineligible for the postseason. The schools were allowed to continue playing in the tournament, but they were forced to forfeit all of their wins.

The four schools were Springfield Lanphier high school Peoria Manual High School East St. Louis Lincoln high school and Westinghouse College Prep All four schools had their wins vacated and were forced to play in the consolation bracket.

Despite the controversy, the tournament went on as scheduled and was won by Springfield Lanphier High School who defeated East St. Louis Lincoln High School in the championship game. It was the school’s first state title in basketball.

The 1991 Illinois State Basketball Tournament will forever be remembered for the scandal that took place, but it will also be remembered for the legacy that was left behind.

The “ihsa Ball State champions” is the name given to the teams that are the winners of the Illinois State Basketball Tournament