Hearts Post Win Over Determined Mt. Zion Squad

The Effingham Hearts picked up an Apollo Conference boys basketball win Friday night, defeating the Mt. Zion Braves, 55-42 in action at EHS Gym. The game was heard on 979XFM and www.979xfm.com. 

The Braves are one of those teams that played much better than their record, which was 2-12 coming into the contest. They had won their first two games, though, coming into the contest and wanted to keep the momentum going.

Effingham had other ideas, though.

The Hearts pulled out to a 17-11 advantage by the end of the first quarter, but Effingham could only muster six points in the second period and led just 23-21 at halftime.

Effingham outpointed Mt. Zion 12-10 in the third and led 35-31 heading to the final quarter. The Hearts exploded to start the final period and ended with a 20-11 edge in the quarter to post the 13-point win. Effingham had the lead up to 18 one trip before Mt. Zion hit some late threes to make it closer.

Effingham shot 46% from the field, 18 of 39 including 6 of 17 threes. The Hearts made 13 of 17 foul shots, committed 15 turnovers, and pulled down 32 rebounds.

Mt. Zion made 15 of 42 shots, 36%, including 5 of 16 threes. The Braves made eight of 10 free throws, turned the ball over 12 times and grabbed just 19 rebounds.

Drew Thompson led Effingham with 16 points, including four threes. Nate Thompson posted another double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Parker Wolfe scored 11 points and grabbed six boards. Also for Effingham: Tate Niebrugge six, Jacob Stoneburner four, Dylan Ritz two and Jackson Lee one.

Drew London led Mt. Zion with 10 points.

The Hearts improved to 10-6 with the win, 3-2 in Apollo play. Mt. Zion is 2-13, 0-5 in the conference.

Effingham won the JV game 41-19. For Effingham, Ben Thompson scored 11 points, Max Woelfer 10.

Effingham is back in action Saturday at 3:30pm at the St. Anthony Shootout, taking on the Casey-Westfield Warriors. Hear the game on KJ Country 102.3 and www.kjcountry.com.