A jumper in the lane by Caleb Siemer gave THS the lead for good and ignited that scoring surge. Over the next five minutes, Joey Niebrugge, Garrett Gaddis and James Niebrugge each scored for the Shoes to make it 46-38 with 1:28 still remaining.
During that run, the Shoes missed the front end of three bonus situations, but on each occasion, grabbed the rebound and turned those rebounds into points.
“We work on that all the time in practice,” Reeder explained. “We don’t lean on our guys and expect them to make every free throw. We have a play we use to get those rebounds and it worked for us tonight.”
“For three quarters and two minutes we rebounded very well,” St. Anthony coach Cody Rincker added. “But one of the things that separates T-Town from other opponents is that they have five guys they can count on at all times to go to the boards. And they have three guys – Caleb, Joey and James – that are tremendous rebounders. We just didn’t get on the boards strong enough during that stretch.”
Collin Westendorf snapped the run with a bucket at the 1:11 mark to trim the gap to 46-40, but Gaddis and Joey Niebrugge both hit a free throw and Mitch Koester converted two more to expand the margin to double digits, 50-40, with only 10 seconds left.
At one point during T-Town’s run, the Bulldogs also missed six straight shots.
“I felt like we had good shots, but maybe we were just a little quicker than we needed to be in that tight of a game,” Rincker noted. “I would have liked to see us in a little better rhythm. I also think we got a little tired, but T-Town had the same thing.”
Siemer scored six points in the first eight minutes, helping the Shoes take a 16-12 lead. They led by as many as seven points in the second period, 23-16, but Ryan Schmidt turned in a three-point play and Adam Rudibaugh converted a turnover into a late basket, making it a 25-21 score as the teams headed to their locker rooms at intermission.
The Bulldogs got a three-point play from Max Koenig to open the third quarter and then a three-pointer by Brock Fearday and a jumper by Sehy that put SAHS on top, 29-27, three minutes into the second half.
Siemer then followed with a three of his own, plus another bucket after grabbing an offensive rebound and Brendan Niebrugge added a jumper to put the Shoes back on top, 34-39. But two free throws by Ryan Schmidt and that long three by Sehy forged a 34-34 deadlock heading into the decisive fourth period.
“I’m proud of our guys,” Reeder said. “We fought through some bad basketball tonight. That third quarter was about as bad as we can play. But credit Cody and his guys for forcing us to play that way. St. Anthony didn’t let us get into our sets and we didn’t execute very well. But, again, give credit to them. I need to do a better job as a coach for our guys so we can get into our sets better.”
Sehy and Schmidt led the Bulldogs with nine points, while Westendorf, Fearday and Koenig each scored seven. SAHS connected on 40 percent of their shots, making 17-of-43. They were 3-for-10 from long range and 6-for-8 from the foul line.
“We’re going to get better from tonight,” Rincker said. “There are losses you come out feeling like you didn’t play to your potential or that you just gave a game away. Tonight was not one of those nights. We just played a very good basketball team that beat us.
“Our goal this week was to go 2-2 and now we have the opportunity to finish 3-1,” Rincker added. “We’ve played three fantastic teams and now we’ll get to play another one. We’re starting to understand the level of basketball we need to play to be a good basketball team. I’m very pleased with where we’re at right now. We just keep getting better.”
The Bulldogs, who are now 10-5 overall, will face Pleasant Plains in the third place game, which is scheduled for 6 p.m. Friday at Effingham High School. The Cardinals are coached by former T-Town standout Kyle Weber.
The Shoes had two players in double figures – Siemer with 14 points and Brendan Niebrugge with 11. They were 19-for-40 from the field, a 48 percent clip. They were 4-for-13 from behind the arc and 8-for-16 from the line. Siemer turned in a double-double, finishing with 10 rebounds.
The Shoes, who improved to 12-1 on the season, will now face Lincoln-Way East for the tournament championship at 7:30 p.m. Friday at EHS. Teutopolis will be looking for its fifth tournament title, having won in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2018.
“We’re happy where we’re at right now,” Reeder said. “A chance to play for a trophy is always exciting.
“Coach (Rich) Kolimas will have his kids ready to play,” Reeder added. “This is the first year Lincoln-Way East was not in our building for the opening-round games. I know he respects our program and his kids won’t be caught off-guard. We will have to be aggressive and go right at them.”
