Mattoon Rallies in Fourth Quarter to Beat Hearts

Mattoon rallied in the fourth quarter to defeat the Effingham Hearts 67-62 Friday night in Apollo Conference action. The game at Mattoon was heard on 979XFM and www.979xfm.com. 

Effingham had as big as an 11-point lead in the contest, but the Green Wave outscored the Hearts 28-14 in the final period to post the win.

The Hearts led 20-17 after one quarter, but needed a three-point bucket at the buzzer by Mason Hull to regain the lead 31-30 at halftime. Effingham then outscored Mattoon 17-9 in the third quarter to lead 48-39 heading for the final period. 

Mattoon's Justus Donaldson scored 13 of his 15 points for Mattoon in the fourth quarter to key the comeback along with seven points in the period from Jacob Spitz.

Mason Hull was huge for Effingham all night, hitting eight three-pointers on his way to a game-high 28 points. Landon Wolfe had a tough shooting night, but still contributed in a big way with 17 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Matt Robinson scored seven points with six rebounds. Ryan Sandifer scored five points, all in the first quarter, and racked up four assists. Parker Wolfe hit a three-pointer and Cole Marxman had a dunk for his two points with seven rebounds.

Mattoon put five players in double figures; Donaldson with 15, Jaydon Noe with 11 points, and Spitz, Jadyn Prinko and DeAndre Thomas each with 10 points. Jacob Ghere just missed with nine points.

Both teams shot 46% from the field, Effingham 22 of 48, Mattoon 24 of 52. The Hearts made 10 of 18 threes, Mattoon made six of 16. The Green Wave made 13 of 15 free throws, Effingham eight of 10. Effingham turned the ball over just eight times, Mattoon only five times. Mattoon outrebounded Effingham 29 to 24.

Effingham slipped to 10-15 on the season, and 4-7 in the Apollo, while Mattoon improved to 10-14 and 3-8 in the conference.

Mattoon won the JV game 58-46. Parker Wolfe with 12 points and Drew Thompson with 10 led the JV Hearts, while Lane Roley led Mattoon with 15 points.

Effingham travels to Breese Mater Dei Tuesday night before closing out the regular season and the conference season next Friday night, hosting Taylorville on Senior Night.

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The Hearts found out Friday that they are assigned to the Paris 3A Regional Tournament to begin post-season play. 

Effingham will take on the host Tigers in the second game at 7:30pm on Monday, February 26. Olney Richland County will take on Charleston in the first game that night at 6pm. If the Hearts win the Monday game, they would play Tolono Unity on Wednesday, the 28th, at 7pm. If they win that contest, they would play for the regional championship on Friday, March 2 at 7pm.