“I wasn’t sure how Brayden would handle this type of pressure,” EHS coach Obie Farmer admitted. “He’s very young and hasn’t been battled tested yet. But he made an immediate impact.

“That three was huge for us. Huge,” Farmer added. “When he let it go, I thought my heart was going to stop, but he knocked it down. He really came through for us.”

In the extra session, the Cyclones grabbed a quick three-point lead, but Tate Niebrugge tied the game when he connected on a 3-pointer. Parker Wolfe then put the Hearts ahead to stay with a short jumper and added a free throw to make it a two-point margin, 77-75, with 37 seconds still showing.

The Hearts defense forced the Cyclones to commit a turnover and Garrett Wolfe was fouled with 15 seconds to play. The freshman made 1-of-2 attempts and when SHG’s Kyle Ingram’s last-second three-point attempt was off-target, Effingham had the hard-earned victory.

“We’ve been trying to get some minutes for Garrett and get him initiated into varsity basketball,” Farmer explained. “He did a great job for us tonight. He and Brayden are just pups yet, but they’re going to develop and be very good players. I expect big things from those two as their careers continue here at Effingham.”

Sacred Heart jumped out to an early lead at the beginning, but then Nate Thompson got hot. The junior forward scored 17 of his 26 points in the first half and helped the Hearts come back and build a 33-26 halftime lead.

Parker Wolfe had the big second half, pouring in 21 of his game-high 31 points.

“Nate just played his game,” Farmer said. “He just wants the team to do well. If he scores, great. If somebody has the hot hand, that’s great, too. It doesn’t really matter to this group.

“Parker is always going to be Parker and play his game,” Farmer added. “He really attacked the basket hard tonight. They were trying to be aggressive with him, which actually made it easier for him to get to the basket. He got whacked a few times, but he’s used to that. His older brothers beat the snot out of him every night while he was growing up. He’s a tough kid.”

The Hearts shot 43 percent overall, connecting on 21-of-49 shots. They were 7-for-18 from behind the arc and 29-of-33 from the foul line. They held a slim 32-30 rebounding edge, with Jacob Stoneburner pulling down a game-high 10.

The win was a big one for Effingham.

“We’ve been talking about a redemption win and we got one tonight,” Farmer said, referring to last year when SHG beat Effingham 54-44 in the semifinals of the tournament. “We let one get away from us last year, so it was nice to get this one.

“We weren’t use to the kind of pressure they apply on defense,” the EHS coach added. “It took a while for us to get acclimated. We made some mistakes, but once we got used to it, I thought we did a good job. Aside from Lincoln, this is the best team we’ve played this year. And I don’t think things are going to get any easier. There aren’t any bunnies in this tournament.”

Effingham improved to 8-2 on the season and will play two more tournament games today (Friday). The Hearts will face Chicago Corliss at 2 p.m. If they win, they will play the winner of the Champaign Centennial-Central A&M contest at 7:30 p.m. If the Hearts lose to Corliss, they will be back in action at 6 p.m. against the loser of the Centennial-A&M game.