The Teutopolis Wooden Shoes turned in their strongest performance of the season Tuesday night, handing the Monticello Sages their first loss, a 54-51 setback at J.H. Griffin Gymnasium.

The Sages led by one, 17-16, after the opening eight minutes, but the Shoes came back to outscore their guests 15-7 to take a 31-24 lead at halftime. Monticello then went on a 21-11 run in the third quarter and carried a 45-42 edge into the final period. But the Shoes outscored the Sages 12-6 in the final eight minutes to come away with the win.

Ben Cresap led the Sages with 19 points. They are now 13-1 on the season.

Caleb Siemer turned in another strong performance, scoring 14 points and pulling down nine rebounds. Brendan Niebrugge and James Niebrugge added nine points apiece, while Mitch Althoff had six rebounds.

The Shoes improved to 12-3 on the season. They will be back in action Saturday, traveling to Warrensburg-Latham.

By Steve Raymond

ET Sports Report

Chet Reeder was not happy with what he saw in the first half and had a message for at least part of his team.

“It was directed primarily at our bench players and James (Niebrugge),” the Teutopolis coach said. “We had too many turnovers and it was primarily due to those players being too passive. They weren’t attacking and looking to score. They were just dribbling around and passing the ball, waiting for somebody else to make a play. I challenge that group pretty good at halftime.”

As a result, James Niebrugge had a big second half and one of those bench players – Joey Ruholl – hit the shot that changed the game.

The Shoes held a slim three-point lead over Effingham late in the third quarter when Ruholl drilled a three-pointer from the corner, was fouled and completed the four-point play.

That sparked a 12-0 run that put the Shoes in control, en route to a 58-47 win Friday afternoon over the Hearts in the fifth place game of the Effingham-Teutopolis Christmas Classic.

“That was definitely a big shot for us,” Reeder noted. “And it was big for Joey, too, confidence-wise. He had an open shot and he took it. That’s what I want to see.”

Jett Volpi had just connected on a three for Effingham to get the Hearts within 35-32 with 1:51 to play in the third period. After Ruholl’s four-pointer play, Caleb Siemer scored after grabbing an offensive rebound to put T-Town up 41-32 heading into the final eight minutes.

But the run didn’t stop there. James Niebrugge hit a short jumper, Max Niebrugge made a pair of free throws and Brendan Niebrugge added another basket to complete the 12-0 run and extend the THS lead to 47-32 with 5:31 left.

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Fresh off their holiday tournament championship, the Teutopolis Lady Shoes notched another “W” Monday night, posting a lopsided 53-15 win at home over Flora.

Just five days after sweeping through the Charleston Holiday Tournament, the Lady Shoes jumped out to a double-digit lead and rolled to their 11^th win of the season.

Emily Konkel scored six points in the opening eight minutes, helping T-Town to the early 17-7 lead. The Lady Shoes then outscored the Lady Wolves 15-1 in the second period to take a comfortable 32-8 lead to the locker room at intermission.

Flora didn’t score a single point in the third period and the THS margin grew to 47-8.

Kaitlyn Schumacher and Izzy Hardiek tied for game scoring honors with 15 points apiece. Kaylee Niebrugge added 10. Hardiek and Niebrugge both pulled down five rebounds, while Schumacher, Hardiek, Konkel and Niebrugge each had three steals.

The Lady Shoes improved to 11-3 on the season. They will return to action on Thursday with a home game against Mattoon.

By Steve Raymond

ET Sports Report

For Teutopolis, it was the tale of two halves.

In the first half, the Shoes – as they say – “couldn’t throw it in the ocean.” They made only 3 of 21 shot attempts, an icy 14 percent.

But the second half was a completely different story. T-Town barely missed a shot, going 12-for-15.

That torrid shooting over the final 16 minutes proved to be the difference, as the Shoes posted a hard-fought 49-41 decision over rival St. Anthony.

“We were getting the looks we wanted, but we didn’t do a good job of finishing in that first half,” THS coach Chet Reeder said. “At halftime, I told the guys to just keep getting to their spots, which they did. The shots started to fall, plus we continued to rebound well.”

For the Bulldogs, it was the second game in three days they made very few trips to the foul line. In their win against Champaign Centennial, the Chargers shot 13 free throws compared to just three for St. Anthony.

The disparity was even greater against Teutopolis. The Shoes finished 18-for-22 from the charity stripe, while St. Anthony missed its only attempt.

Bulldogs coach Cody Rincker was not happy about that.

“There were too many inconsistencies with the calls,” Rincker said. “It’s not like we weren’t going to the hoop, too. I don’t know what our guys have to do to get some calls. But the difference in the free throws was certainly the difference in this game.”

Despite playing most of the game without leading scorer Craig Croy, who is battling through a bone bruise on his foot, the Bulldogs stayed close. In fact, they led most of the first half.

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