Five straight points by Matthew Deters quickly expanded the margin to double digits, 38-28, but the Hawks, behind the strong play of Graham Meisenhelter, kept within striking distance. Midway through the third period, Meridian trailed 40-33.

But Hardiek ignited a 14-3 run with a three and then Wermert took over. He connected on back-to-back shots from behind the arc to expand the gap to 49-33. After a score by Meisenhelter, Wermert drilled another from long range and then converted a Hawks turnover into a layup.

Wermert tallied 13 points in those eight minutes, and as a result, the Shoes headed into the final period with a 54-36 advantage.

“Evan is match-up problem for everybody we play,” Reeder said. “He attacks the rim, gets to the foul line and can also hit from three. When he gets going, our team is at a different level. He’s a real difference-maker.”

Meisenhelter pumped in 14 of his game-high 29 points in the final eight minutes, but Meridian was unable to get any closer than 14. T-Town’s largest lead was 66-43 after a three by Evan Addis.

“Graham was a match-up problem for us,” Reeder noted. “He is quick and physical. Overall, I thought we did a decent job on him. We certainly forced him into some tough shots.”

THS had chances to build a double-digit lead in the first half. Hardiek and Addis both connected from behind the arc in the opening eight minutes, with Addis drilling his at the buzzer to give the Shoes a 20-13 edge.

The lead grew to eight points, 24-16, after a jumper by Max Niebrugge, but Merdian’s Meisenhelter and Drew Hurelbrink combined to score 11 points and help the Hawks get within two on two occasions. A free throw by Niebrugge and the last-second rebound basket by Althoff sent the Shoes to the locker room with a 33-28 advantage.

But as Reeder mentioned, T-Town missed several shots from point blank range and was only 3-of-8 from the foul line. And, the Shoes were out-rebounded in the first 16 minutes.

“We re-set our identity at halftime,” Reeder said. “One thing we definitely talked about was rebounding. We had to do a better job. We needed to grab the ball with two hands.”

Wermert finished with 23 points to lead the Shoes. Hardiek and Addis were also in double figures, scoring 17 and 10 respectively.

But there were additional “difference-makers” that Reeder also talked about following the game.

“Matthew Deters was certainly one,” the coach noted. “The stat sheet shows he had just four rebounds, but he kept a lot of balls alive that ended up in our hands and resulted in baskets for us.

“Kayden Althoff gave us a real spark, especially in that first half,” Reeder added. “That put-back at the end of the half was big for us. These guys make a big difference for us.”

And then there’s Niebrugge. One night after dishing out 15 assists, the junior guard turned in another solid all-around game. He scored six points and had five rebounds, four steals and six more assists.

“Max does a lot for us,” Reeder said. “When we talk about difference-makers, he’s certainly one of them. We get maximum effort from Max every single game.”

The Shoes connected on 28-of-66 shots overall, a 42 percent clip. They were 8-for-29 from behind the arc and 10-of-19 from the free throw line. They ended up with a 28-26 rebounding advantage. Wermert pulled down a game-high 11 boards to give him a double-double.

The Hawks, who entered the game ranked No. 7 in the Class 1A poll, dipped to 5-2.

Teutopolis improved to 6-2 overall. The Shoes will play three Apollo Conference games this week – Tuesday at home against Lincoln; Friday at home against Mattoon; and Saturday at Taylorville. They are 2-2 in league play.