It wasn’t a pretty game at all.

Neither team could score consistently.

There were costly turnovers late in the contest.

And the free throw shooting was simply dreadful.

But it was a great high school basketball game.

It was close all the way and both teams gave it their absolute all.

The final outcome could have easily been reversed. It’s why many filing out of the Rocket Center might have been seen scratching their head.

The Monticello Sages had the upper hand midway through the fourth quarter, owning a 39-34 advantage. After Drew Hoene grabbed a rebound and scored for T-Town, the Shoes were within three points, 39-36, at the 3:11 mark.

Monticello’s Matthias Rudolph had a chance to regain the Sages’ five-point lead, but missed a pair of foul shots with 2:39 left. It was the first of three trips to the foul line that proved disastrous for the Sages down the stretch.

Gavin Addis then drilled a three-pointer from the top of the key that got the Shoes even, 39-39, with 2:02 still remaining.

Gatsby Grant put Monticello back on top with a short jumper and Hoene made 1-of-2 foul shots to get THS within 41-40.

With 52 seconds to play, Nolan Buehnerkemper made a free throw to put the Sages up two, 42-20. Twenty seconds later, Tyler Blythe was fouled and had a chance to make it a two-possession game. The senior guard missed both free throws, setting up a last effort for the Shoes.

You wouldn’t think it was possible to get off four shots in eight seconds. But T-Town proved otherwise.

Alex Kremer made a strong drive to the basket, but his shot missed. Mick Niebrugge grabbed the rebound, but his short jumper was also off-target. Somehow, the ball caromed out to the free throw line, where Henry Thompson grabbed it and put up a jumper. It, too, missed.

But Addis grabbed the ball about four feet from the bucket and put up the shot that represented the Shoes’ final hope. The ball bounced on the rim several times. A video shot by a Teutopolis fan of those final seconds, captured a lady screaming, “Go in!”

Her plea was answered. The ball dropped through the net just a half-second ahead of the final buzzer. The putback by Addis had knotted the score, 42-42, sending the game to overtime.

“I know the shot by Gavin tied the game, but I think his three was the big one,” said THS coach Chet Reeder. “That made it a different game. It forced them (Monticello) to keeping making plays and making shots.”

As for those final eight seconds, Reeder described them as “moving in slow motion.”

“Thankfully, the clock was going in slow motion, too,” he added. “Everyone of those final four shots were good ones. I thought they were all going in. The kids did what they had to do to make the winning plays.”

After not leading the entire first half and being ahead for just a few minutes in the entire game, the Shoes never trailed in overtime.

Kremer made his first shot of the game just 19 seconds into the extra session to put T-Town on top to stay. After Blythe missed two more free throws for Monticello, Addis hit a jumper for the Shoes to extend the lead to 46-42. Another basket by Kremer made it 48-43, but Blythe’s three-pointer cut it to 48-46 with 1:17 to play.

THS had a chance to seal the game away at the free throw line, but left the door open for the Sages, making only 5-of-13 foul shots.

Monticello, however, failed to take advantage. In the final minute, the Sages turned the ball over twice in 13 seconds, and the Shoes managed to make enough foul shots -- plus Hoene pulled down two big offensive rebounds after missed free throws – to finally secure the win and gain a berth in the sectional final.

“I had a feeling the game was going to be exactly like this,” Reeder admitted. “I expected it to be close. Both teams have good senior leadership and both teams have tough kids. Coach (Kevin) Roy does a great job with his kids. This was a game between two similar teams really going at it.”

At the beginning, it looked like the Sages were prepared to get revenge from a 41-37 setback to the Shoes in early January. They got a three-pointer from Blythe, plus baskets from Grant and Buehnerkemper. Meanwhile, T-Town missed its first six shots from the floor and a pair of foul shots to fall behind 7-0 midway through the opening quarter.

Brody Thoele finally got Teutopolis on the scoreboard after grabbing an offensive rebound. The Shoes made just 2-of-11 shots and 4-of-9 free throws in the first eight minutes, but trailed only 12-8.

“I was thrilled to be only four down at the start of the second quarter and then tied at halftime,” Reeder said. “We missed some shots, but I was more bothered by our play at the defensive end. We weren’t communicating and giving up too many points inside. We gave up things we don’t normally give up.”

Back-to-back three-pointers by Isaac McWhorter and Addis made it a 14-14 game three minutes into the second period. Monticello went up 22-16, but a shot from behind the arc by Thompson just before the buzzer, made it a 22-22 game at intermission.

“We gave up 16 points in the paint that first half,” Reeder noted. “We got that shored up and played better defensively after that.”

Niebrugge’s short jumper to open the third period gave the Shoes their first lead, 24-22. Another basket by Niebrugge made it 29-26, but it was just a one-point THS lead, 32-31, heading into the final eight minutes.

Blythe and Rudolph both scored 10 points for the Sages, who finished their season at 18-14. They shot 53 percent overall, making 18-of-34 attempts. They were 5-for-16 from three-point range and 5-for-13 at the foul line.

The Shoes also had two players with 10 points – Niebrugge and Addis. The team made 18-of-49 shots, a 37 percent clip. They were 6-for-21 from long range and just 11-of-26 at the line. Niebrugge finished with a double-double, also pulling down a game-high 13 rebounds.

Teutopolis, now 23-10, will face either Lawrenceville or Warrensburg-Latham in the sectional championship – a destination Reeder wasn’t sure could be obtained after losing Jake Bushur to a season-ending injury at the beginning of the season.

“I didn’t know if we could do this without him,” Reeder said. “But these kids just keep believing in themselves and their teammates. And, frankly, I believe this group is playing for Jake. These kids love each other. It’s real.”

The Shoes dropped a 52-39 decision to Lawrenceville in the first week of the season in November and lost, 47-40, at Warrensburg-Lathem in mid-January.

Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday.

“We just have to keep believing,” Reeder said.