Effingham hosted St. Anthony Monday night and won both the freshman and sophomore basketball games.
In the freshman contest, the Hearts trailed 47-35 after three quarters, but then went on a 19-6 run to post a 54-53 victory.
The Bulldogs built a 35-22 lead at intermission.
Dillow led EHS with 13 points and Estrada added 10. St. Anthony got 17 points from Michael Martelli, 16 from Jonathan Willenborg and 10 from Max Sager.
The sophomore game wasn’t as close, as Effingham posted a 56-38 win. The Hearts built leads of 13-4 after eight minutes and 28-14 at halftime.
Volpi and Fox both scored 12 points for EHS, while Kyle Stewart led the Bulldogs with 8 points.
By Steve Raymond
ET Sports Report
The Effingham Lady Hearts used a pair of double-double performances and clutch fourth-quarter free throw shooting Monday night to post an exciting 50-44 victory at home over Charleston.
EHS freshman Annie Frost scored 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, while junior Taylor Armstrong added 13 points and pulled down 11 boards.
And then seven different players went to the line in the final eight minutes and converted 14-of-17 foul shots to help the Lady Hearts build and then hang onto their lead down the stretch.
But it didn’t come easy.
A basket by Armstrong and two free throws by Grace Bushur gave Effingham its biggest lead of the game at 42-34 with 4:04 to play.
But Charleston’s full-court pressure and Shea Littleford’s scoring ability cut into that lead. The Lady Hearts turned the ball over eight times in the final period and the Lady Trojans converted after four of those. And when Littleford turned in a three-point play and then converted a turnover into a 3-pointer, the lead had dwindled to 46-44 with 41 seconds still remaining.
By Steve Raymond
ET Sports Report
The Effingham Hearts opened the 2019-2020 basketball season by going 3-1 and placing third in the St. Anthony Thanksgiving Tournament.
Not bad for a team that lost the school’s all-time leading scorer to graduation.
And not bad for a team that had practiced just once before the season opener.
But that’s exactly the situation the Hearts and Coach Obie Farmer faced due to a very successful football season. Effingham reached the playoff semifinals and didn’t see its season come to end until just three days before the basketball season opened.
And even though Farmer didn’t know what to expect, he was okay with that situation.
“I’d rather have seen the football team playing for the state championship than our basketball team playing for the tournament championship,” said Farmer, who was also an assistant coach for the football squad. “Those kids had a great year and everyone hated to see it end.”
By Steve Raymond
ET Sports Report
For the second time in six days, Mattoon had a double-digit lead and appeared to be in control of the basketball game.
And for the second time in six days, Effingham rallied to post the win.
The Hearts used a 15-0 scoring run in the third quarter to overcome an early 11-point deficit. But after building a 17-point lead themselves, they survived a late surge to come away with a 76-71 victory Friday in both their home and Apollo Conference opener.
With 2:51 left in the contest, the Hearts held a seemingly comfortable 69-52 advantage. But somebody forgot to tell the Green Wave the game was over.
Mattoon, which had scored just 14 points in the first 13 minutes of the second half, suddenly came alive. Cam’Ron Thomas sparked the spurt, pumping in 11 of his 30 points down the stretch. The Green Wave also got threes from Dalton Compton and Malik Carter-Smith, and when Thomas hit his long-range three, Mattoon had trimmed the lead to 74-71 with 13 seconds remaining.
The Green Wave was assisted by five Effingham turnovers and poor free throw shooting. The Hearts didn’t do a good job taking care of the ball and missed four straight free throws at one point and made just 13-of-23 in the quarter, with most of those coming in the final three minutes.
Fortunately, Drew Thompson, who had his best career game, came to the rescue. He calmly made a pair of free throws with 13 seconds still remaining that finally secured the win.
Mattoon used a 30-14 scoring edge in the second half Thursday night to pull away and post a 55-34 victory at home over Effingham.
The Lady Hearts played a solid first half and trailed just 25-20 at halftime.
“We played a pretty good first half; probably good enough to have the lead,” EHS coach Jeff Schafer said. “But in the second half, Mattoon was awesome defensively. They played great. But we still had some great stretches of play.”
Freshman Annie Frost had a strong game for Effingham, scoring 8 points and pulling down 14 rebounds. Hayley Diveley led the team with nine points and Taylor Armstrong also scored eight.
The Lady Hearts dropped to 3-3 overall and 0-1 in the Apollo Conference. They will play their home opener Monday night against Charleston.
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