Hagel ties for second at Peoria

The feeling of what-could-have-been is evident in Nic Hagel's voice.

A day after tying for second at the IHSA's King of the Hill 3-point competition at Peoria's Carver Arena, Hagel was making another round of interviews on Sunday.

"I know last week I said I wasn't nervous, but this time I was nervous," Hagel said in a phone interview with the Herald Tribune. "I knew what was at stake and I wanted it so badly.

"Just kind of made it hard on myself and it ended up costing me. I don't know what I could have done differently to block the nerves out."

Attempting to become the first Warrior since Adam Eggemeyer in 2005 to take home a King of the Hill title (Eggemeyer won the slam dunk version), Hagel drained eight three-pointers, tying with Jonah Smith (Mt. Zion) and Jacob Wiegele (West Chicago) for second.

Christian Camarillo (Chicago Holy Trinity) won the contest with 11. Camarillo was the Class 2A champion, with Smith and Wiegele as Class 3A and 4A winners.

Hagel won the Class 1A title last week.

"You can take away a lot of good things from this," Hagel said. "Obviously, being No. 1 would be better, but being No. 2 is good too.

"I think it shows the hard work that I did."

But Hagel's not putting the basketball away just yet. The Lincoln Land Community College recruit will be playing in the Lion's Club All-Star Game on Friday at Rend Lake College.

Also representing Steeleville will be Chloe Gerlach, who ended her basketball career as the Lady Warriors' all-time career points leader with 1,229.

Gerlach and her other All-Stars will play at 6 p.m., with the boys' contest to take place at 8 p.m.

Teams held their pre-game practice on Sunday.

Tickets are $3 and Steeleville coach Andy Gerlach has four available. Interested persons can contact Gerlach at 618-965-3477.

"I got Ross Owens from Woodlawn on my team," Hagel said. "A lot of the players I know were on the other team, funny enough.

"There's some Mt. Vernon kids and some from Carbondale. There were a lot of kids there I haven't seen before."

With the springiness of the Rend Lake College floor, Hagel said he may attempt a dunk of the situation arises.

"If I get a chance to, I'm going to try," he said. "Hopefully, a miracle will happen and I'll get a breakaway or something."