“That late spurt was strictly due to our turnovers,” Farmer said. “That led to those quick points. At halftime, we talked about cleaning that up.”

Farmer also changed defenses at halftime and that paid dividends immediately. Wolfe got a steal and a basket just six seconds into the second half. The Hearts then came up with another turnover and Dalton Fox turned that into a three-point play 30 seconds later.

“We ran our 2-3 zone pretty effectively in the first half,” Farmer said. “I figured they were drawing up plays on how to attack our 2-3, so we went to our man-to-man. We got a quick steal and then another one and we were right back in it.”

Those two buckets started a 15-4 run. Logan Heil hit a short jumper, Armando Estrada converted yet another MSHS turnover into a layup and Ethan Ritz drilled a three from the corner to knot the score at 21-21. Heil than capped the scoring spree by turning another Bulldogs miscue into another three-point play, putting Effingham on top, 24-23, midway through the third period.

“We just got after people on defense,” Farmer said. “Good defense normally leads to good offense. We got a couple layups and that seemed to take the lid off the basket. We then got into a better flow offensively.”

The Bulldogs, however, responded with a 9-0 run of their own before Heil hit another jumper and Andrew Donaldson knocked down a long three right before the buzzer to get the Hearts within 32-29 heading to the fourth quarter.

Wyatt Bohm scored for Mahomet-Seymour, but Andrew Splechter tallied four straight points for the Hearts and it was a one-point deficit, 34-33, with 5:58 to play.

That’s when the Bulldogs went on their final scoring run. Blake Wolters started the decisive surge with a bucket. Wolters and Ben Wagner both scored four points during that stretch that saw the visitors extend their lead to 45-35, with 2:11 still left.

The Hearts got within six twice, but MSHS made seven free throws in the final 57 seconds to seal the victory.

“Their length really gave us problems today,” Farmer noted. “They’re five inches taller than we are at every position. They’re going to block some shots and get their hands on some balls that other teams won’t. Position-by-position, they’ve got to be the biggest team in our conference.”

Wolters led the Bulldogs with 18 points. They were 16-for-39 from the floor, a 41 percent clip. They connected on just 2-of-10 from long range, but were 20-for-28 at the foul line.

Heil led the Hearts with 13 points. Effingham shot better in the second half, but still finished at 33 percent overall, making 15-of-46 shots. They were 3-for-19 from behind the arc and 8-for-8 at the foul line. They finished with 18 turnovers.

The Hearts dipped to 9-15 on the season overall and 1-7 in the Apollo Conference. They will play a make-up game at home Monday night against Mattoon. It will be a varsity game only and will begin at approximately 7:30 p.m.