Wooden Shoes Knock Off Mt. Carmel at Sectional

There would be no three-peat.

The Wooden Shoes came from behind to defeat Mt. Carmel 47-37 in the semifinals of the Vandalia 2A Sectional Tournament. The game was heard on KJ Country 102.3 and www.kjcountry.com. 

After beating Mt. Carmel 59-30 back in the season opener in November at the Capital Classic, the Shoes faced a much-tougher opponent Wednesday night. 

Mt. Carmel scored first, but Teutopolis came back to hit a three and take a 3-2 lead. The Shoes soon fell behind and got down as many as seven points. They trailed the Golden Aces 19-14 at the end of the first quarter.

Then came a unique second quarter. T-Town scored nine points. Mt. Carmel scored none. Once the Shoes got the lead back, they held the ball and Mt. Carmel chose to stay back and everyone watched the clock tick by. The Golden Aces took one shot from the field and missed two foul shots in the period and Teutopolis had a 23-19 lead at halftime.

The Shoes' offense and defense complemented each other in the third quarter, when T-Town outscored Mt. Carmel 17-8 to lead 40-27 heading to the final period. Six different players scored for the Wooden Shoes in that third quarter. Mt. Carmel closed the gap 10-7 in the final period, but lost to the Shoes by 10 points.

Clint Weber led Teutopolis with 15 points, 13 in the first half. Evan Wermert was a huge help in the first half, scoring 10 of his 11 points. Also for the Shoes: Luke Ungrund seven, Dawson Smith six, Mitch Hardiek and Jordan Hardiek three points each, and Lucas Drees two points.

Sophomore Beau Stipp and senior Kaleb Applebey kept Mt. Carmel afloat with 12 points and 10 points, respectively.

Teutopolis made 18 of 39 shots, 46%, including 5 of 12 threes. The Shoes survived poor foul shooting, making just 6 of 13, grabbed 23 rebounds and committed just five turnovers.

Mt. Carmel made 13 of 29 shots, 45%, including 4 of 9 threes. The Golden Aces made 7 of 11 foul shots, committed 10 turnovers and pulled down 19 rebounds.

Teutopolis improved to 28-5 and moved into the sectional championship Friday night against the Fairfield Mules in 7pm action that will be heard on KJ Country 102.3 and www.kjcountry.com. Mt. Carmel closed its season with a 14-16 record following an 0-6 start.

Class 2A Vandalia Sectional

MOUNT CARMEL (37)

Rager 2-4 2-4 6, Doan 1-6 0-0 3, Stipp 4-10 4-6 12, Applebey 4-7 1-1 10, Gould 2-2 0-0 6, Laws 0-0 0-0 0, Gill 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS 13-29 FG, 7-11 FT.

TEUTOPOLIS (47)

Smith 2-7 2-5 6, Weber 6-11 3-3 15, Ungrund 3-4 0-3 7, Wermert 4-8 1-2 11, M. Hardiek 1-2 0-0 3, J. Hardiek 1-4 0-0 3, Drees 1-3 0-0 2, Hoene 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS 18-39 FG, 6-13 FT.

Mount Carmel               19    0    8    10    --    37

Teutopolis                     14    9    17    7    --    47

3-point FG -- Mount Carmel 4-9 (Doan 1-3, Stipp 0-2, Applebey 1-2, Gould 2-2), Teutopolis 5-12 (Smith 0-2, Ungrund 1-2, Wermert 2-4, M. Hardiek 1-1, J. Hardiek 1-2, Drees 0-1). Rebounds -- Mount Carmel 19 (Applebey 10), Teutopolis 23 (Wermert 7, Weber 6). Turnovers -- Mount Carmel 10, Teutopolis 5.