The Effingham Hearts faced a couple tough opponents the past two nights.

On Friday night, EHS traveled to Mahomet-Seymour and dropped a 46-35 decision in an Apollo Conference game.

Then on Saturday, the Hearts competed in the Nokomis Shootout and faced an undefeated Centralia squad. Effingham played strong, but were handed a 42-29 setback.

Scoring continues to be a struggle.

Quenton Rogers knocked down a three and scored nine points, helping the host Bulldogs build a 19-11 lead after the opening period. The Bulldogs then outscored EHS 20-11 over the next two quarters to build the margin to 39-22 after three periods.

“We’re just not looking to score,” EHS coach Obie Farmer said. “We’re running our sets well, but we need to improvise a little to put ourselves in position to score. We need to improve on that.”

Andrew Splechter led the Hearts with 12 points. Rogers finished with 11 for Mahomet-Seymour.

Effingham was right back at it Saturday and gave the Orphans everything they could handle. The Hearts were within four points in the fourth period before Centralia was able to pull away and secure its seventh win of the season.

The Orphans grabbed a 12-5 lead after the initial eight minutes, but Effingham was within 21-16 at intermission. Centralia led 33-22 after three quarters.

“They have an excellent offense they run against a man-to-man defense and they run it very well,” Farmer noted. “So we decided to play zone against them and we caused them some problems.

“We had nothing to lose tonight,” Farmer added. “Our kids played real hard against a team that I’m sure will be ranked in the top 10. They’re very talented. They’ve got shooters, a 6’7” kid inside and they rebound well.”

Ethan Ritz came off the bench to lead the Hearts with eight points, while Garrett Wolfe scored seven and Armando Estrada added six.

“Ethan had an awesome game,” Farmer said. “He came in and played hard. He hit a couple shots and rebounded well. I told him after the game I was proud of him.”

Koby Wilmoth and Davin Tabor led the Orphans with 14 and 13 points respectively.

The Hearts dipped to 2-5 on the season and are now 0-2 in the Apollo Conference. They are scheduled to play three home games this week – Tuesday against Teutopolis; Thursday against Charleston; and Saturday against Lincoln.