Hearts, Shoes to Play for Tournament Championship

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Published on December 28 2013 3:24 pm
Last Updated on December 28 2013 3:24 pm
Written by Greg Sapp

The Teutopolis Wooden Shoes and the Effingham Hearts will play tonight for the championship of the first-ever Effingham/Teutopolis Christmas Classic.

In second round action Saturday, Teutopolis defeated the Mattoon Green Wave 68-57 while Effingham won over the Chicago Al Raby Raiders 69-47.  Both games were heard on KJ Country 102.3 and www.kjcountry.com.  

Teutopolis will play Effingham for the title tonight at 8:00.  Hear the game on KJ Country 102.3 and www.kjcountry.com.  Wayne will also be videotaping the game so watch for it on the website later and get ready to purchase a DVD copy of the game.

In the win over Mattoon, Teutopolis was propelled by the stellar shooting of senior Reed Hardiek who scored 20 points in the first quarter.  Hardiek made six threes and a two-point basket in the period and the Shoes led 23-9 at the end of the period.  The Shoes outscored the Green Wave 21-14 in the second quarter and led 44-23 at halftime.  However, Mattoon would not go away.  After trailing 56-33 after three quarters, the Green Wave got the deficit down to single digits before the Shoes regrouped to win by 11.

Teutopolis made 24 of 52 shots for 46%.  They also made eight of 11 foul shots and turned the ball over just 10 times while grabbing 22 rebounds.  The Shoes were 12 of 23 on three-point tries.

Mattoon finished 47% from the field on 25 of 53 shooting.  Mattoon made five of eight foul shots, committed 12 turnovers and pulled down 27 rebounds while making two of 10 three-point tries.

Hardiek finished with 29 points to lead the Wooden Shoes, making of eight of 15 shots and six of eight from the line.  He was seven of 13 on three-point tries.  Ironically, he did not have a basket in the second half, but hit six of eight from the line in the fourth quarter.  

Also for Teutopolis: Brett Mette 15, Cody Will and Ryan Sandschafer eight each, Michael Drees and Justin Kenter three each, and Bobby Wenthe two.

Tanner Scott led Mattoon with 23 points, 16 in the second half and 10 in the fourth quarter.  Travis Kittell added 10 points.

Teutopolis is now 8-2 on the season, while Mattoon drops to 3-5.  Mattoon will play at 5pm against Charleston for fifth place.

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As was the case with the Wooden Shoes, the Hearts held a sizable lead heading into the second half and saw much of it disappear before regrouping and winning by plenty.

Effingham hit nine of 13 first quarter shots to take a 19-11 lead and then posted an 18-4 advantage in the second quarter to lead 37-15 at halftime.  Al Raby came out of the locker room with their motor running high and outscored the Hearts 23-10 in the period to pull within 47-38 at the end of three quarters.  Effingham regained the momentum in the final period, though, outscoring Al Raby 22-9 to post the 22-point win. 

The Hearts made 22 of 36 shots for 61% shooting.  Effingham made 23 of 33 foul shots including 16 of 22 in the fourth quarter.  The Hearts committed 14 turnovers, eight in the third quarter, and pulled down 21 rebounds while making both of just two three-pointers in the game.

The Raiders made 15 of 37 shots, hit on just seven of 14 foul shots, committed 17 turnovers, grabbed 20 rebounds and made eight of 17 three-point attempts.

Leighton Lark led Effingham with 24 points on eight of 10 shooting from the field and seven of eight from the line while grabbing five rebounds.  Kevin Daugherty added 18 points and grabbed eight rebounds.  Also for the Hearts: Matt Wohtman eight, Grant Wolfe and Marcus Robinson five each, Kennan Mahaffey three, and Isaac Foreman, Braydon Bone and Michael Carie two each.

Curtis Echols led Al Raby with 14 points and Talma Anderson added 12 points.

Effingham improved to 7-2 on the season while Al Raby dropped to 8-2.

Here's the set-up for Saturday night's finals, to be played at Effingham High School:

5pm--fifth place game--Charleston vs. Mattoon

6:30pm--third place game--Mt. Vernon vs. Chicago Al Raby

8pm--championship game--Effingham vs. Teutopolis