It was still a 14-point margin midway through the fourth period when A&M went on a 14-4 scoring spree to finish the game.

“They’re a 1A team? That’s just crazy,” EHS coach Obie Farmer said about the A&M team that returns all their starters from a squad that finished third in the state last year. “To have that many quality basketball players at the 1A level is impressive. They are a very good basketball team that does a lot of good things.”

A&M had three players in double figures, led by Heaton’s 26 points. Jacob Paradee scored 18 and Andricks added 15 for the Raiders, who improved to 9-1 on the season. A&M shot 60 percent for the game.

“They’re very difficult to defend,” Farmer noted. “They stretched us out, found holes in our defense and attacked. Since we were behind, we had to try to apply pressure, but they are very efficient. That’s not really our game, but we were behind, we had to come out after them.”

Nate Thompson led Effingham with 25 points and Parker Wolfe added 15.

“We did some good things tonight,” Farmer said. “We got some good looks in our man-to-man sets. But when you can’t get stops at the other end, it doesn’t make much difference.

“Playing these caliber teams is good for us,” the EHS coach added. “Corliss and A&M will really test you. I’m always upset with a loss, but I saw some good things today.”

Earlier in the day, Chicago Corliss showed why it’s considered the tournament favorite. The Trojans led 19-11 after the first quarter, expanded it to 37-22 at halftime and were on top 44-27 heading into the final eight minutes.

Na’shawn Townsen led the Trojans with 22 points. Parker Wolfe was the Hearts leading scorer with 19 points.