Evan Wermert sparked the attack at the offensive end. He scored 13 of his game-high 27 points in the final eight minutes, starting with a three-point play that quickly narrowed the gap to three. The Shoes, who had trailed since the end of the first period, tied the game at 50-50 on a free throw by Brock Deters.

T-Town finally got the lead when Wermert drilled a 3-pointer to put the Shoes on top, 57-56, with 1:51 left. But Pana’s Bryce Edmiston converted a THS turnover into a basket, putting the Panthers back on top, 58-57, with 41 seconds still remaining.

Reeder called a timeout and set up a play. Pana’s defense was strong, however, and Luke Ungrund was forced to improvise. The senior guard made a strong drive to the basket and scored with 15 seconds to go.

“Luke deserves a lot of credit,” Reeder said. “Our play wasn’t working. But Luke could see that, so he made his move to the basket.”

Then it was T-Town’s turn to play good defense, forcing the Panthers to take a timeout with 2.4 seconds still showing on the clock. They tried lobbing the ball to their center, Andrew Ambrose, but the Shoes were ready for that.

“I had a feeling they were going to lob it to Ambrose,” Reeder explained. “We put Matt (Deters) on the ball to make it as difficult as possible. We defended it well and I saw the ball got loose. Luckily, they didn’t pick it up and shoot it.”

The final horn sounded before another shot could be taken and the Shoes were celebrating their 11th straight regional championship and their 17th in the last 19 years.

As close as the entire second half was, the game had blowout written all over it after the first 3½ minutes. Jordan Hardiek drilled a three just 24 seconds into the contest. Mitch Hardiek made a pair of free throws and Wermert went on a personal 7-point run, capped by another three, making it 12-0 at the 5:11 mark.

A minute later, the Shoes owned a 14-2 advantage and were seemingly in control.

Pana had other ideas. And the next time T-Town scored, it was trailing.

The Panthers scored the final 15 points of the period and then tallied the first five of the second quarter to complete their 20-0 scoring spree that gave them a 22-14 edge. Mitch Hardiek finally hit a pair of free throws that broke the 7½-minute scoring drought.

Not only were the Shoes unable to make any shots during that stretch, they also didn’t take care of the basketball. THS was guilty of nine turnovers in the final five minutes of the opening quarter and had 12 in the first half.

“I’ve never seen those kinds of runs back-to-back like that,” Reeder noted. “I give credit to Pana. They didn’t freak out when we got that early lead. Instead, they put a run together of their own. Plus, we started to take quick shots and turn the ball over. We were very fortunate to win this game with the number of turnovers we had.”

It was still an eight-point gap until Brock Deters and Wermert scored in the final minute to close within 30-26 at intermission.

Pana led throughout the second half until Wermert’s bucket late in the fourth quarter. The Panther lead fluctuated between two and eight points. They were up 46-40 after three quarters, setting the stage for the exciting finish.

“Both teams presented match-up nightmares for each other,” Reeder explained. “Ambrose was a tough match-up for us inside and they have quick guards. But they didn’t have anyone to match-up with Wermert and we were able to expose that.”

To go along with Wermert’s 27 points, Brock Deters also reached double figures with 11.

“Evan was huge tonight,” Reeder said. “He did what Evan does. He used his big, strong body and hit some big shots for us.

“He is our best offensive player, but if you focus only on him, we have other guys that can score,” the THS coach added. “And what’s great about this team is they don’t care who scores.”

Shortly after receiving their championship plaque, the team raced into the locker room for a short time.

“I wanted them to experience pure, raw emotion,” Reeder said. “Water was flying, the kids were jumping up and down; we were celebrating. We needed to experience that together in a private setting.”

The Shoes, now 22-10 on the season, earned a berth in the Shelbyville Sectional. Also advancing was Marshall, Breese Mater Dei and Alton Marquette.

T-Town will face Breese Mater Dei at 7 p.m. Wednesday, with the sectional final set for the same time Friday night.

“I think we have as good a chance as anyone,” Reeder said. “I’ve got a great group. These kids care about each other. They just want to win; they don’t care how. I think we could be a dangerous team to deal with and we’re looking forward to another challenge.”