Basketball

By Steve Raymond

ET Sports Report

When a team has more turnovers in a quarter than points, it’s generally not a good thing.

But such was the case Saturday night for the Teutopolis Wooden Shoes.

They turned the ball over 12 times in the third period, but scored just five points. That allowed Sacred Heart Griffin to expand its lead to double digits, en route to a 64-56 victory over the Shoes in the consolation championship game of the Effingham-Teutopolis Christmas Classic.

T-Town trailed 35-30 at intermission and got within 35-32 when Luke Ungrund scored to open the third period. But then a rash of turnovers started to occur. At one point, the Shoes turned it over on five straight possessions.

Sacred Heart Griffin was able to take advantage and began expanding the margin. Noah Newton, Jake Hamilton and Kyle Ingram each scored after turnovers and the Cyclones owned a double-digit advantage, 46-34, at the 2:47 mark of the third quarter.

Heading into the final eight minutes, SHG was on top 48-37.

“We did have some silly, non-aggressive turnovers,” said THS coach Chet Reeder. “The ones where we just got the ball taken away from us were frustrating.

“Sacred Heart Griffin also plays good defense and it can really bother you,” Reeder added. “Between SHG and Chicago Brooks, we haven’t seen that type of speed and aggressiveness. But that’s why we play in this tournament and that’s why we play the schedule we do. We can have our flaws shown to us so we can get them corrected.”

By Steve Raymond

ET Sports Report

With 4:29 to play, it was starting to look like déjà vu.

About a month ago, the St. Anthony Bulldogs rallied from a 17-point deficit to beat Teutopolis 56-50 in overtime and capture the championship of their own Thanksgiving Tournament.

Midway through the fourth quarter Friday afternoon, the game had a similar feel. The Bulldogs had trimmed a 10-point spread to just four and had two opportunities to get closer.

But this time, the Shoes responded in winning style. They went on a 12-3 scoring run in the final 2½ minutes to secure a 62-49 win in the latest version of the Cross Creek Rivalry, played this time at THS as part of the Effingham-Teutopolis Christmas Classic.

“I was pleased with how the boys responded,” THS coach Chet Reeder said. “We expected them to make a run. St. Anthony is too good of a team not to. But this time, we did a better job managing that and playing through it. And then Evan Addis hit that huge three that kind of sealed it.”

In one of two first-round overtime games, Chicago Brooks came away with a 57-52 victory over Teutopolis on opening night of the 7th annual Effingham-Teutopolis Christmas Classic.

The Wooden Shoes got off to a very slow start in the game, scoring only a single free throw by Brock Deters in the first eight minutes. As a result, the Eagles built an 8-1 lead.

But the Shoes came back in the second quarter and closed the gap to 17-15 by halftime. THS owned a slim 33-32 advantage after three periods and the game was tied 50-50 after regulation.

Evan Wermert and Evan Addis both scored 13 points to lead T-Town in scoring. Chaz Harvey and Milan Williams scored 17 and 14 points respectively for Chicago Brooks.

The Shoes shot 38 percent for the game, making 17-of-45 shots overall. They were 8-for-19 from behind the arc and 9-for-16 at the foul line.

T-Town, now 7-2 on the season, will face Lawrenceville today (Friday) at 11 a.m. The winner of that game will move on to play either St. Anthony or Mattoon at 4:30 p.m. at J.H. Griffin Gymnasium. The loser of those two same games will play at 4:30 p.m. at the auxiliary gym at Effingham High School.

There was a total of eight games played Thursday – four each at Effingham and Teutopolis. Here is a brief recap of the other contests.

By Steve Raymond

ET Sports Report

The Teutopolis Lady Shoes were ice cold shooting the basketball.

So Coach Laurie Thompson gave her team a valuable piece of advice.

“Keep shooting.”

The Lady Shoes followed that advice and it worked. They went from frigid to red hot, blistering the nets at a 65 percent clip over the final three quarters Friday afternoon and pulled away for a 56-36 victory over Effingham in an opening round game of the Charleston Girls Holiday Tournament.

“We started 2-for-14 and the girls were starting to second guess themselves,” Thompson said. “I told them to stop that and to shoot the ball. Once we became a little more patient, we relaxed and the shots started falling.”

And falling often.

The Lady Hearts held a 9-2 lead late in the opening quarter. But EHS then went scoreless over a five-minute stretch – the same stretch T-Town started clicking on offense.

Teutopolis used a 19-10 third quarter scoring run to take the lead and then hung on for a 51-49 victory over El Paso-Gridley Saturday afternoon.

The Shoes were competing in the Eureka Shootout.

The Titans led 17-10 after the first period and were on top 27-23 at halftime. T-Town then battled back to take a 42-37 lead into the final eight minutes.

Evan Wermert and Brock Deters both scored 11 points to pace the Shoes, who improved to 7-1 on the season. Wermert also had six rebounds and five assists, while Brock Deters also pulled down six rebounds.

Teutopolis will now compete in the Effingham-Teutopolis Christmas Classic, which begins Thursday. The Shoes will face Chicago Brooks at 7:30 p.m. They will then play two games Friday and conclude with a contest on Saturday.