The early run was just the first of three surges that made a huge different. The Shoes added a 16-0 spurt in the second quarter and then went on a 17-2 spree in the third quarter. Those three runs alone accounted for a 47-2 scoring difference.

T-Town led 21-9 at the end of the opening quarter. A three by Gavin Addis made it 24-9, but back-to-back baskets by Cole Phillips and Rylan Pals got the Hearts with 11 points, 24-13, just 90 seconds into the second period.

But Gaddis connected again from long range, sparking the 16-0 scoring spree. Gaddis scored 11 points during that four-minute run, while Tyler Pruemer added a jumper and Zac Niebrugge drilled a three. By halftime, Teutopolis owned a 26-point cushion, 40-14.

“Even though we got a little closer, I expected a team like T-Town to make another run,” Farmer said. “Coach Reeder does a great job. He’s got a good team and good teams go on runs. They handled defensive pressure better than we did and they are able to find more ways to score.”

In the first 16 minutes, the Shoes shot nearly 50 percent from the three-point line, making 8-of-17. Gaddis had five of those.

“Garrett does a tremendous job moving without the ball,” Reeder explained. “That makes it hard for teams to guard him. Plus, our guys do a good job finding him.

“I was also glad to see Zac hit a couple,” the THS coach added. “He’s been struggling a little and to see the ball go in the hole could be huge for him. I know we shot a lot of threes tonight, but very few bad ones. We also got the ball in the paint at times. I was pleased with our offense.”

But that offense had one final run to make.

Effingham’s Wade Bushur scored in the opening seconds of the third quarter, but Pruemer responded with a score that sparked a 17-2 surge. Both Koester and Zac Niebrugge made shots from behind the arc and Joey Niebrugge added five points to expand the T-Town lead to 57-18 with less than a minute remaining in the third period.

“Our guys are going to get there,” Farmer said. “We’re going to continue to work on executing on offense and bringing pressure on defense. By this time next year, we’ll be better. I think we’re already getting a little better.”

KJ Kellams led the Hearts with nine points. They made 10-of-30 shots overall, a 33 percent clip. They were 3-for-10 from behind the arc and 4-of-9 from the foul line.

Gaddis was T-Town’s only double-figure scorer, finishing with 22 points – 20 of those in the first half. The Shoes shot 47 percent overall, connecting on 24-of-51 attempts. They were 11-for-26 from long range and 8-for-11 at the foul line. They also held a 26-12 rebounding edge, a stat Coach Reeder was very pleased with.

“If you get 58 percent of the rebounds, you’ll win 85 percent of your games,” he noted. “That’s a Coach Crawford stat and I believe it. Rebounding is a major emphasis for us every day in practice. It needs to be one of our strengths.”

The Hearts dipped to 2-9 on the season. They will play at home again Thursday night, entertaining Charleston in an Apollo Conference contest.

The Shoes are now 6-2. They play at 4 p.m. Saturday in the Greenville Shootout. They will face Columbia.