But the Orphans started taking control in the third period. Along with their stingy defense, they started pouring in shots from long range. In fact, they finished 7-for-9 from three-point range in the second half after making their first seven.

Another three from Brendan Niebrugge tied the game at 15-15 just 25 seconds into the third period. But when Carson True drilled a three at the 5:42 mark, it started a decisive 11-0 run for the hosts. Davin Tabor made a short jumper and then added a three, and Jeremy Dalton capped the scoring spree with another basket from behind the arc to put Centralia up by double digits, 26-15.

Siemer hit a jumper to snap Centralia's run, but True connected again from long range, sending the Orphans into the fourth period with a 29-17 advantage.

"We were okay with letting No. 12 (True) shoot. To his credit, he made some shots," Reeder noted. "We didn't want No. 5 (Dalton) getting open looks. That was a breakdown on our part."

Dalton drilled another three to open the final period, kicking off a 12-3 run that increased the gap even more. Max Niebrugge's three was T-Town's only score during that four-minute stretch. When Dalton capped the surge with his third three-pointer of the half, the Orphans were in total control, leading 41-20.

The statistics are very telling. In shots-by-quarter, the Shoes took 5, 6, 6 and 10. Their scoring by quarters were 5, 7, 5 and 5.

"I thought we executed our game plan on defense very well," Reeder said. "Tabor hurt us in the first half. We didn't want to let him get to the basket. We wanted to force him into taking jump shots. Obviously, we didn't do that early in the game. But to hold a team like Centralia to just 42 points took good effort on our part.

"But you have to put the ball in the hole," the THS coach added. "I thought we had gotten away from being timid, but we sure got back into it tonight. We've got to find a way to improve on that and get our confidence back."

Tabor scored 12 of his game-high 17 points in the opening half, while Dalton had 9 of his 10 after intermission. The Orphans shot 48 percent overall, making 16-of-33 shots. They were 7-for-13 from long range and just 3-for-9 from the foul line.

Siemer paced the Shoes with 11 points. Only four players scored in the game, with Brendan Niebrugge getting six, Max Niebrugge three and James Niebrugge 2. The Shoes made 8-of-27 shots, a cold 29 percent clip. They were 3-for-14 from behind the arc and 3-for-4 from the free throw line.

The Orphans, who are ranked No. 10 in Class 3A, improved to 17-2 on the season.

The Shoes dipped to 14-5. They are scheduled to be back in action today (Saturday), playing host to Shelbyville.

Shoes 70; Shelbyville 42

What a difference a few hours makes.

After being held to just 22 points Friday night, the Teutopolis Wooden Shoes bounced back in a big way, posting a 70-42 victory at home Saturday over Shelbyville.

The Shoes scored more points in the first eight minutes than they did in three periods Friday night in Centralia, and led the Rams 18-9. By halftime, the THS lead expanded to 36-20. T-Town then wrapped it up by outscoring Shelbyville 20-11 in the third period, building a 56-31 advantage.

Brendan Niebrugge knocked down six three-pointers and led all scorers with 22 points, while Caleb Siemer added 13 and Mitch Althoff chipped in with nine.

The Shoes improved to 15-5. They will play Tuesday at Mt. Zion.