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.”
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.
By Steve Raymond
ET Sports Report
The final outcome was pretty much a foregone conclusion.
The Effingham Hearts simply hadn’t played well and had shot even worse. And as the clock ticked under four minutes, they found themselves trailing by 10 points.
But as baseball legend Yogi Berra once said – “It ain’t over till it’s over.”
This tired bunch of Hearts refused to quit and somehow found the energy to stage a remarkable comeback.
They went on a 15-0 scoring run and knocked down 15-of-17 free throws in the final minutes to rally for a 64-58 victory over Mattoon Saturday night to finish 3-1 overall and capture third place in the St. Anthony Thanksgiving Tournament.
“Our legs were dead, but I still challenged them to never give up and never quit playing,” said EHS coach Obie Farmer. “I also challenged their effort and intensity, which I don’t think they liked hearing. But they responded by going out, playing hard and picking it up.”
The rally began when Nate Thompson made a pair of free throws to make it 53-45 with 3:44 to play. But after watching the game up to that point, nobody in The Enlow Center expected what was to follow.
The 2019-2020 boys basketball season tickets and reserved seat tickets for the Effingham Hearts are now on sale and will continue through Tuesday, Dec. 10.
Tickets may be purchased from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the high school office.
These tickets apply only to the nine regular season home games.
Ticket prices are as follows:
General Admission Season Tickets -- $36
Reserved Seat Season Tickets -- $45
Reserved Chair Seat Season Tickets -- $54
By Steve Raymond
ET Sports Report
Making the right pass and taking a good shot.
Being in the right position on both offense and defense.
And doing these things play after play.
That’s what Effingham coach Jeff Schafer is trying to teach and instill in his girls basketball team.
But it was the inconsistency of those things that made the difference Saturday afternoon.
The Lady Hearts battled back from a 10-point deficit, but just couldn’t make enough plays at the end, and the result was a 42-40 setback to Newton on the final day of the Bob Kerans Thanksgiving Tournament in Newton.
EHS finished tourney play 2-2.
“This is a game we should have won,” Schafer said. “It came down to the little things. We missed free throws and we didn’t adapt to the way the game was being called. Plus, we wasted seven or eight possessions because we weren’t organized against the press. You have to do the right thing and be in the right position all the time.”
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