Even though Brooks missed their final four shots from long range, they owned a 24-point cushion, 40-16, at intermission.

“We were kind of in survival mode from the beginning,” Farmer said. “We played like we had to shoot before they could take the ball away from us. When we play like that, we will not have success. We were too worried about having a turnover. We didn’t play quality, efficient basketball – the type of basketball we have to play.

“And that carried over to the defensive side, too,” Farmer added. “We weren’t keeping people in front of us and we weren’t rotating on defense. We just didn’t play our game at all. We took a step back today.”

The Eagles were never threatened in the second half. The Hearts got within 24 points one time and Brooks led by as many as 32 on one occasion.

The Chicago school improved to 5-6 on the season. The Eagles had four players in double figures. Anthony Vaval led the way with 19 points, while Olitimi Taiwo scored 12, Moore added 11 and McElroy chipped in 10 to go along with his 12 rebounds. Brooks shot 51 percent for the game, connecting on 27-of-53 attempts. They were 10-for-15 from three-point range and 3-for-8 from the foul line.

Jett Volpi led the Hearts, who dipped to 3-9, with 10 points. Armando Estrada had eight. EHS was 16-for-52 from the field, a cool 31 percent. They made just 8-of-29 attempts from behind the arc and were 2-for-6 from the free throw line.

“When we look toward the postseason, we know we’ll have to get used to different styles of basketball,” Farmer noted. “With this game under our belt, we’ll be better prepared for teams that play this style and won’t be in survival mode so much.”

The Hearts will also play one game Thursday. The winner of the EHS-Knoxville contest will play for fifth place at 3 p.m. at Effingham High School. The loser will play for seventh place at 1 p.m.