Welcome back Brendan Niebrugge.

After missing two games due to an ankle injury, the T-town junior returned to the starting lineup, led the team in scoring and calmly converted two free throws with just four-tenths of a second left to give the Teutopolis Wooden Shoes a 37-36 victory Friday night at Fairfield.

Those two foul shots completed a furious fourth-quarter rally that started with the Shoes trailing by 10 points, 34-24.

Niebrugge knocked down a pair of three-pointers and then hit the two late free throws. Dylan Pruemer had another key shot from behind the arc and Caleb Siemer made a pair from the charity stripe to account for T-Town’s 13-2 run over the final eight minutes.

The Shoes were playing without two starters. James Niebrugge missed his second game due to illness and Kayden Althoff is out for the season after suffering an ACL injury Tuesday night at Effingham.

Niebrugge hit a three and scored five points in the opening period, as the Shoes built a 7-2 lead. But the host Mules outscored THS 15-6 in the second quarter to take a 17-13 lead to the locker room at intermission. Fairfield extended its lead to 34-24 heading to the fourth period.

“We played very passive on offense against their zone,” THS coach Chet Reeder said. “Finally, we got some guys to be aggressive midway through the third quarter and created some turnovers in the fourth that helped us get back into the game.”

Niebrugge finished with a game-high 13 points and Siemer also cracked double figures with 12. Max Niebrugge had six assists and Brendan Niebrugge and Siemer led the team in rebounding with six and five rebounds respectively.

The Shoes, who improved to 8-1 on the season, will be right back in action today (Saturday). T-Town will play Peoria Christian at 1:30 p.m. in the Eureka College Shootout.