Throughout the second half, there were times the Hearts appeared on the verge of breaking the game wide open. But the Shoes also had several opportunities to get the lead into single digits. But the inability to hit key shots, combined with some costly turnovers prevented that from happening.

“We just had a lack of execution tonight and that’s 100 percent on me,” THS coach Chet Reeder said. “It’s my responsibility as coach to have the team better prepared. We don’t have enough good possessions on offense and we’re too loose with the ball. I haven’t made them do things right in practice and that needs to be addressed. We just need to be better prepared.”

The Hearts never trailed. A 3-pointer by Stoneburner and a bucket by Thompson gave the hosts a quick 5-0 lead. A three-point play by Parker Wolfe and another by Thompson in the closing seconds of the first period put Effingham up 17-10.

Five straight points by Thompson, including a 3-pointer, gave EHS its first double-digit lead, 22-12, just 60 seconds into the second quarter. Three-pointers by Evan Wermert and Jordan Hardiek closed the gap to six and another by Evan Addis got the Shoes to within 26-23.

Stoneburner and Fox both connected from long range for Effingham and Jordan Hardiek had another for T-Town. A late basket by Wermert made it 34-29 at intermission.

“People concentrate on Nate and Parker, but all of our kids are skilled players,” Farmer said. “They all have the ability to score and tonight proved that. Dalton hit a couple big shots for us. And Garrett? There’s not a tougher kid on the floor. And Stonie can also make shots, plus he’s tough on the boards.

“I know those three kids don’t get as many shots, but they can score,” the EHS coach added. “If they chip in five, six or seven points, that can be the difference in the game. And tonight was a good example of that.”

The scoring surge to start the third period proved to the key point of the contest.

“Our defense, especially in that third period, wasn’t very good,” Reeder said. “I thought Max did a good job on Parker. He got to the rim a few times, but Max really challenged his shots. Nate had an exceptional game and then we let guys score that don’t normally score. We just can’t do that.”

Farmer also talked about his team’s defensive play.

“We knew they had three guys that can score,” he noted. “Wermert is a monster. He’s a lot like Nate. He can get to the basket, bang inside and step out and hit the three. Jordan can also light it up and Addis can shoot it, too. I thought we did a pretty decent job on them.”

Thompson led all scorers with 25 points, while Parker Wolfe added 15 and Stoneburner chipped in with 11, plus also pulled down a game-high eight rebounds. Garrett Wolfe scored nine and Fox finished with six.

Wermert led three Shoes in double figures with 18 points. Hardiek added 11 and Addis 10. Wermert had seven rebounds.

The Hearts shot 51 percent from the field, connecting on 23-of-45 attempts. They were 7-for-19 from behind the arc and 15-of-22 from the charity stripe. T-Town made 19-of-48 attempts, a 40 percent clip. The Shoes were 7-for-22 from long range and 9-of-13 from the foul line. They also turned the ball over 17 times.

Teutopolis dipped to 2-2 on the season and 1-2 in the Apollo.

“So far, we’ve been an average team and I’ve been an average coach,” Reeder said. “Against the two top teams in the league, we just didn’t perform like we need to. Against Lincoln, we weren’t patient on offense and didn’t rebound and against Effingham, we didn’t take care of the ball.

“We have to be better against the better teams,” Reeder added. “We have to play fundamentally sound basketball and we just haven’t done it.”

The Shoes were scheduled to play Charleston on Friday and at Mahomet-Seymour on Saturday. Both of those games have been cancelled due to COVID at the two schools. T-Town will now travel to Marshall on Saturday, but the Friday game has not been filled as of yet.

The Hearts remained unbeaten through five games and are now 3-0 in league play. And even though it’s early in the season, it sets up a showdown with Lincoln Friday night at EHS. Both teams are unbeaten and sit atop the Apollo Conference standings.

“The Railsplitters are top-notch,” Farmer admitted. “It’s no secret what you’re going to get. They’re going to show you that tough defense and they run a hard-cutting offense. They are a very good team. It’s going to be a big game for us.”

The Hearts were also scheduled to play Saturday at home against Charleston, but that game has also been cancelled due to COVID, as has next Tuesday’s game at Mahomet-Seymour.