Saturday night’s contest was even closer. The game was tied 13-13 after eight minutes and T-Town owned a razor-thin 26-25 edge at halftime. The Shoes were on top by a single point, 41-40, heading into the fourth period, but the Maroons tied it up, 49-49, to force the overtime period.

Points were hard to come by in the extra session. With just 23 seconds to play, both teams had scored just two points, but T-Town had the ball. Coach Reeder then designed the play and Niebrugge’s three-point play delivered the win, clinching the third place finish.

Hoene led the scoring attack with a game-high 18 points and Alex Kremer added 12.

“Alex was once again tremendous on both sides of the ball tonight,” Reeder noted. “He held one of the best players in the tournament (Champaign Central’s Chris Bush) to 13 points, while still being aggressive on the offensive end.”

The Shoes, who went 2-1 in the tournament, improved to 15-6 for the season. They will return home Tuesday night, but the opponent won’t be any easier. They will welcome a very talented Mt. Zion team to J.H. Griffin Gymnasium.

“I’m really proud of what we have done to this point, but we haven’t reached our ceiling,” Reeder said. “We have to keep backing it up in practice every day.”