ROCHELLE — One win stood between the Rochelle Hub varsity basketball team and a share of the Interstate 8 Conference title. That win was on the line Wednesday evening, when Rochelle hosted the LaSalle-Peru Cavaliers for its final Interstate 8 Conference regular-season matchup of the season.

Behind four senior starters who won the conference title at the sophomore level two years ago, Rochelle took the early lead and never looked back, setting a new season-high scoring output in a dominant 92-59 victory over the Cavaliers. It’s the first conference title in a decade for the Hubs (20-10, 11-3 Interstate 8), who topped the 90-point threshold for the first time this season behind five double-digit scorers.

“It feels amazing and this has been my dream since I first started playing on the varsity team,” senior Ryan Simmons said. “It’s always hard to win a conference championship at the varsity level, but it’s a surreal feeling. I thought we played much better team basketball in the second half. We were swinging the ball around and when our shots were falling, we were playing with much more energy and trying our hardest.”

Rochelle began taking command of the game during the second quarter, where the Hubs ballooned their 13-8 lead to double figures behind a strong effort from senior Tanner Lager, who capitalized on defensive mismatches and several aggressive moves to the basket to score nine of his 18 points. Seniors Adam Kemp and Cooper Hasz each knocked down 3-pointers in the second quarter for the Hubs, who led 40-26 at half.

“I had a smaller defender on me and that made it easier for me to score,” Lager said. “I was able to get into the lane consistently and make some shots. It feels great knowing that we’re the first team in 10 years to win a conference championship. It’s amazing and I think we have a really good basketball team. I think we can make a run in the postseason and I think with our energy, we’re capable of winning a regional title.”

Simmons and Kemp shined in the third quarter for Rochelle, with Simmons sinking a pair of triples from the right elbow while finishing a trio of soft-touch shots around the rim for 12 of his 18 points in the win. Kemp converted his third 3-pointer of the night in the third quarter before adding his team-high fourth triple in the fourth quarter to finish with 15 points. The Hubs scored at least 25 points in each of the last three quarters.

“It’s a really special moment for us because we’ve dreamt about this all season,” Kemp said. “We got it together during the second half of the season and we went on a big run. We wanted to keep running up and down the floor throughout the game because we wanted to get them fatigued. I thought we tired them out and we went on a big run at the end. We have a tough regional coming up, but we’ve already seen a few of the teams we could be facing and we just need to come together with a solid game plan for what’s next.”

Junior forward Raul Aguirre followed a 12-point effort against Byron with an 11-point performance as a starter on Wednesday, hitting a 3-pointer from the left elbow and scoring out of the post to wrap up a solid outing against the Cavaliers. Hasz finished with 10 points and sophomore Eli Luxton added six points.