Prior to the game, Effingham coach Obie Farmer said his team really needed a win.
Well, they got one and in a big way.
The Hearts used red-hot shooting to grab an early lead and literally dominated throughout, finishing with a convincing 93-38 victory at home Tuesday night over Charleston.
It was never a contest. EHS scored the first 12 points and the rout was on. The lead ballooned to 24-4 after eight minutes and was 54-15 at intermission.
“We shot really well,” Farmer said. “And the shots we didn’t make, Nate (Thompson), Stoney (Jacob Stoneburner) and Brayden (Pals) cleaned up on the boards. Plus, Charleston had a hard time stopping us in transition and it didn’t help them that their shots weren’t falling on the other end.”
The Hearts made 56 percent of their shots, connecting on 35 of 63 attempts overall. They were 13-of-25 from three-point range and 8-of-10 from the foul line. Effingham also held a commanding 43-23 rebounding edge.
The trio of Parker Wolfe, Nate Thompson and Drew Thompson combined to score 78 points. Wolfe, fresh off a 41-point performance Saturday night at Mahomet-Seymour, pumped in 31 against the Trojans. He was 13-for-20 from the floor, including 3-of-6 from behind the arc.
Nate Thompson made 9-of-13 shots, including 3-of-4 from long range to finished with 24 points, while Drew Thompson knocked down 6-of-12 three-pointers and scored 23. Nate Thompson also pulled down 11 rebounds, giving him a double-double.
Farmer also mentioned the play of Dylan Ritz.
“Dylan was an excellent addition tonight,” the EHS coach noted. “He didn’t score much, but he did other things that made a huge impact on the game. He rebounded, ran in transition, defended well and was relentless the entire time he was in the game. Our entire coaching staff was impressed by his play tonight.”
The Hearts, now 15-9 on the season and 5-4 in the Apollo Conference, will host Lincoln Friday night. The Railsplitters are undefeated in conference play at 9-0 and are 23-2 overall.
The Hearts also won the junior varsity game 59-54. Jett Volpi scored 17 points and Max Woelfer added 13.
Parker Wolfe was 30 points away from becoming the 13th Effingham player to score 1,000 points.
After three quarters Saturday night at Mahomet-Seymour, it appeared as if the EHS junior would probably accomplish that Tuesday night at home against Charleston.
He had scored 15 points and the Hearts trailed 65-51.
But in the final eight minutes, Wolfe put on a shooting clinic. He went 9-for-11 from the floor, including a trio of 3-pointers, and also knocked down 7-of-8 free throws to tally 26 points in the fourth quarter and crack the 1,000-point plateau.
He finished with 41 points Saturday night and added 31 more Tuesday night in Effingham’s 93-38 victory over Charleston. The point guard now has 1,042 points and sits 12th all-time on the Effingham scoring list.
He also becomes the third son of Dave and Angie Wolfe’s to score at least 1,000 points in their career. Landon Wolfe became the school’s all-time leading scorer last year, finishing with 2,126 career points. Grant Wolfe completed his EHS career in 2017 as the school’s fourth leading scorer with 1,669 points.
The Effingham Lady Hearts will compete in the four-team Olney Class 3A Regional next week.
The first two games will be played on Monday, Feb. 17.
Olney, the top seed, will face Charleston at 6 p.m., followed by the contest between Effingham and Mt. Vernon at 7:30 p.m.
The two winners will play for the regional championship at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 20.
The winner of the Olney Regional will then advance to the Effingham Sectional. Regional winners from Centralia, Troy and Jerseyville will also play in the sectional, which is scheduled to begin on Monday, Feb. 24.
By Steve Raymond
ET News Report
Early in the game, the two teams had traded baskets and it was a slim one-point margin.
Granted, only 2½ minutes had run off the clock, but for the large majority of the fans at Baker Gymnasium, this was the type of game they expected throughout.
The Charleston Lady Trojans had different ideas, however.
The hosts drilled five 3-pointers in the first eight minutes, built an early commanding lead and never looked back.
When the final buzzer sounded, the Lady Trojans were celebrating Senior Night after posting a 61-31 victory over the Effingham Lady Hearts.
“Charleston played awesome,” EHS coach Jeff Schafer admitted. “They were aggressive from the get-go.”
With 5:39 to play in the opening quarter, the Lady Trojans held a 5-4 edge. But by the time the Lady Hearts scored again, it was a double-digit deficit. Freshman Maggie Goetten knocked down a trio of 3-pointers and fellow frosh Erin Blair also connected from long range, sparking a 15-0 run that opened a 20-4 advantage.
Annie Frost and Callie Feldhake both scored for EHS, but the Lady Hearts found themselves trailing 25-8 heading into the second period.
Mahomet-Seymour and Effingham hooked up in a shootout Saturday night.
The host Bulldogs made 10 three-pointers and got 31 points from their 6’7” senior standout Grant Coleman to come away with an 89-81 victory over the Hearts in an Apollo Conference contest.
And that came despite a 41-point effort by Effingham’s Parker Wolfe, who poured in 26 points in the fourth quarter alone.
Mahomet-Seymour led at every stop. The Bulldogs led 20-17 after eight minutes, 38-28 at halftime and 65-51 after three quarters.
Wolfe then connected on a trio of 3-pointers, five two-point baskets and went 7-for-8 from the foul line to keep the Hearts within striking distance in the final period. He had 26 of the team’s 30 points in the fourth quarter.
Nate Thompson scored 14 points in the first half and finished with 20, while Jacob Stoneburner added 11.
The Hearts shot 48 percent overall, making 19-of-40 shots. They were 10-for-22 from long range and 13-of-15 from the foul line.
Effingham dipped to 14-9 on the season and 4-4 in the Apollo. The Hearts will play at home both Tuesday against Charleston and Friday against Lincoln. They will then face Paxton-Buckley-Loda at 5:30 p.m. Saturday in the Teutopolis Shootout.
Effingham won the junior varsity game 59-50. Max Woelfer led three players in double figures with 17 points. Jett Volpi scored 14 and Garrett Wolfe added 12.
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