While water was falling from the sky outside, it was raining threes inside Gum Gymnasium. The two teams combined to launch 55 shots from long range, with Effingham making 12 and T-Town 11.

One of the coaches was okay with that.

The other? Not so much.

“Shooting threes is in our game plan,” Farmer said. “Against Mt. Vernon, we shot 50 percent. Tonight, we shot 52 percent (12-for-23). We’ll win a lot of games shooting that well.

“I know you can live by the three and die by the three,” Farmer added. “But that’s what we do. And as well as we’re shooting right now, why would we do anything else?”

Teutopolis coach Chet Reeder was not happy about the number of threes his team shot.

“Our goal is to shoot between 15 and 20 free throws and be in the low 20s with 3-point shots,” he explained. “Tonight, we shot 32 threes and only 7 free throws. If we shoot that many threes, that means we’re not doing what we need to do at the offensive end. But we’re not making that connection yet.

“Plus, Effingham played tougher than we did,” Reeder added. “Our defense wasn’t very good. What we showed tonight was not what we’ve been showing in practice the last couple weeks. One good thing about a tournament is we get to come right back and play again tomorrow. But we have to be tougher on the defensive end.”

The three-point fireworks started quickly. The Hearts jumped out to a 6-0 lead and later in the opening quarter got threes from Nate Thompson and Parker Wolfe.

But the Shoes made four shots from long range – two by Evan Wermert and one each by Luke Ungrund and Jordan Hardiek – and held an 18-14 advantage after eight minutes of play.

Evan Addis made a pair of threes and Wermert added another and the Shoes still owned a slim 27-26 edge midway through the second period.

Then Niebrugge struck – three times over a 2½-minute stretch that gave the Hearts a lead they never relinquished. He connected on three straight that put EHS on top 35-29. Drew Thompson hit another three that sent the Hearts to the locker room with a 38-31 edge at intermission.

All 24 of Effingham’s points in the second period were as a result of three-pointers. Nate Thompson had an old-fashioned three-point play, but the other seven made shots were all from behind the arc.

The Hearts finished the half on a 12-4 run and then scored the first four points of the second half to open a double-digit lead, 42-31. The Shoes got within eight twice and closed the gap to seven, 46-39, after a 3-pointer from Ungrund.

But Niebrugge and Drew Thompson added 3-pointers of their own and EHS had its double-digit lead back, 52-41, heading into the final period.

“There is no question about the fight in our kids,” Reeder said. “I knew the kids would never give up. It’s the execution of what we do sometimes that hurts us.”

After Max Niebrugge made a pair of free throws to open the fourth quarter, the Shoes had the ball with a chance to get even closer and maybe capture some momentum for the stretch drive. But T-Town missed five shots on that possession, the Hearts scored the next four points and the Shoes were unable to get closer than 12 points the rest of the way.

“That one possession defined our game,” Reeder noted. “We had five shots and four of them were three-pointers. Shooting the three is a big part of our game, but it needs to done when we drive and dish. We shot the ball well from three in the first quarter, but it was because we were penetrating and then kicking the ball out.”

A 7-0 run midway through the fourth period sealed the game. Wolfe hit a pair of foul shots, Niebrugge made his final 3-pointer and Nate Thompson converted a THS turnover into a basket, expanding the gap to 18 points, 63-45.

“We need a perfect effort every night. That’s the identity we’re trying to build in this program,” Farmer said. “They should always be able to give 100 percent effort and I think we did that tonight. The kids played awfully hard.”

After losing to the Shoes earlier in the season, Farmer said the kids were excited about “getting a redemption win.”

“The only thing they talked about after beating Mt. Vernon was wanting another chance to play T-Town,” Farmer added. “These kids only live five miles apart. They’re friends and they play together during the summer. It’s important to them. We split the two games, so maybe that works out well.”

The Hearts had a balanced scoring attack with four players in double figures. Nate Thompson led the way with 19 points, while Niebrugge finished with 17, Wolfe 16 and Drew Thompson 15.

Ungrund paced the Shoes with 17 points and Wermert scored 13.

The Hearts, now 14-6, will now face the Flyers, who will enter with a 13-6 record and a Top 10 ranking in the Class 3A poll. East St. Louis, the defending Class 3A state champions, beat Carbondale in the other semifinal game Friday night.

“The kids are excited about playing a team of that caliber,” Farmer admitted. “They’re a Top 10 team and it’s obvious why. They’re quick, they’re tall and very talented. But our kids are playing well right now. Hopefully they have one more good game in them.”