“We had a foul to give and I wanted to foul them around midcourt, but we didn’t get it done,” Farmer said.

In the second extra period, Friedrich put the Tornadoes on top to stay, connecting on a three from the top of the key, and Bitschenauer hit another less than a minute later to make it a 49-43 spread. Volpi got the Hearts within three when he knocked down a shot from behind the arc, but EHS failed to score the rest of the way and Friedrich secured the win with four free throws in the final 67 seconds.

“Anytime you fall behind like that in overtime, it’s tough,” Farmer said. “After they hit those two threes, we started to scramble a bit at the other end. And when you have scoring woes like we do, it makes it even more difficult.”

Taylorville jumped out to a 7-0 lead and led most of the way. The Tornadoes were up 14-5 after the first eight minutes. The Hearts got a three-pointer from Ritz, a three-point play from Estrada and another bucket from Garrett Wolfe to complete an 8-0 run and get within three midway through the second period.

It was still a three-point cushion at intermission, 21-18.

“We got off to a slow start,” Farmer noted. “We weren’t getting back on defense and they really hurt us in transition.”

The lead fluctuated between three and seven points in the third period, with THS owning a 31-26 advantage as the two teams headed to the fourth quarter.

One of the keys to the contest was the effectiveness of Taylorville’s 1-2-2 zone press. The Hearts, who had 23 turnovers, struggled against it most of the game.

“We practiced against that zone,” Farmer explained. “The kids had difficulty getting to their correct spots. They were just running down the floor rather than getting to where they were supposed to be. And once we did break the press, we didn’t run our offense very well.”

The Tornadoes improved to 3-5 overall and are now 1-2 in the Apollo Conference. They got a game-high 22 points from Friedrich and 10 from Luke Markwell.

The Hearts also had two players in double figures – Ritz with 15 and Fox with 12.

“Ethan hit some big shots for us,” Farmer said. “He really provided a spark for us on offense. When he’s shooting like that, he makes us more dangerous on the offensive end. We can open up the playbook a little. We’re more versatile.”

Effingham didn’t shoot very well, connecting on just 12-of-38 shots, a 31 percent clip. The Hearts were 8-of-23 from long range and 14-of-22 from the foul line.

“I know there are still things we need to work on, but I’m proud of these kids,” Farmer said. “They played their butts off tonight. They worked and worked and worked – and gave us a chance to win. They played so hard.”

The Hearts have now dropped seven straight and dipped to 2-8 on the season overall and 0-4 in the Apollo Conference. They will next play in the Effingham-Teutopolis Christmas Classic. They will play Dixon at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 28.