The Hearts stayed within striking distance in the second quarter. Andrew Splechter scored eight points and EHS trailed 34-23 at intermission.

“We couldn’t throw it in the ocean that first half,” EHS coach Obie Farmer noted. “They were all over us defensively. They played us 1-on-1 and just said we aren’t going to let you score and then did it. Andrew was the only one that got the ball to the basket for us.”

Despite the 11-point cushion at halftime, Reeder wasn’t pleased with his team’s defensive effort.

“I didn’t think we played disciplined on defense,” he said. “I thought we got better in the second half. We finally forced them to speed up, which was our game plan from the beginning. I did think we rebounded very well, though. I thought that was a big difference for us tonight.”

Logan Heil hit a jumper to open the second half, and after a three by Brendan Niebrugge, Garrett Wolfe answered with a three-pointer of his own, keeping the Hearts within nine, 37-28.

But the Shoes then went on their first big run, rattling off 11 unanswered points. Bloemer had a pair of baskets, Brendan Niebrugge and Caleb Siemer each had one and Logan Roepke drained a three. With 3:31 to play in the third quarter, T-Town had a 20-point advantage, 48-28.

A three by Wolfe made it a 17-point margin to end the period, but the Shoes opened the final eight minutes with a 10-0 scoring spree to widen the gap to 27 points, 60-33. James Niebrugge hit a pair of jumpers and Roepke and Brendan Niebrugge capped the run with back-to-back shots from long range.

“We took really good shots tonight,” Reeder said. “At the end of the first half, I thought we played a little of the ‘my turn to shoot basketball,’ but other than that, we moved the ball very well. We made a lot of good passes. When Caleb and Logan (they combined for 17 points) score like that, it’s like free money for us. It makes us a different team.”

“At first, we tried to back off a little, play the gaps and take away their drive,” Farmer explained. “But when they started hitting shots from the perimeter, we had to come out on them and they started pushing the ball inside and the big kids started doing what they do. It was like pick your poison.”

Farmer was also disappointed with his team’s rebounding effort.

“We didn’t match their physicality at all,” he said. “I was concerned about that. Caleb creates space and we knew James was a slasher and attacks the boards like a monster. We just didn’t keep them off the boards.”

Splechter led Effingham 16 points. The Hearts made 15-of-44 shots overall. They were 4-for-13 from behind the arc and 4-for-6 from the foul line. They turned the ball over 16 times.

The Shoes had three players in double figures. Brendan Niebrugge had four three-pointers and finished with 16 points, while James Niebrugge scored 12 and Siemer added 10. James Niebrugge also pulled down a game-high seven rebounds. THS shot very well, knocking down 27-of-45 attempts, a red hot 60 percent clip. They were 8-for-16 from long range and 4-for-11 from the foul line. They also had 16 turnovers.

The Hearts dipped to 4-6 on the season. They will play two more road games this week – Thursday at Charleston and Saturday at Lincoln. Both are Apollo Conference contests.

The Shoes improved to 7-1. They will return to action Saturday at the Eureka Shootout. They will play East Peoria at 3 p.m.