Hearts Take Third Place at Salem Tournament

The Effingham Hearts shot 65% from the field in posting a 54-42 win over the Mt. Vernon Rams to take third place honors at the Salem Invitational Tournament Saturday.  The game was heard on 979XFM and www.979xfm.com.

The scoring started slowly with Effingham in front 8-5 after one quarter.  The Hearts were up 22-14 at halftime and led 35-21 after three quarters.

Effingham did a lot right in the contest, making 20 of 31 shots from the field along with 11 of 17 from the line with all but one of those foul shots coming in the fourth quarter.  The Hearts also pulled down 29 rebounds and made three of four three-point attempts.  The one dark cloud for Effingham was committing a whopping 24 turnovers. 

Mt. Vernon, which shot dreadfully over the first three periods, started to get the lid off the basket in the final period and tried to make a run.  The Rams scored 21 points in the fourth quarter, as many as they scored through the first three quarters, but the Hearts poured in 19 of their own and claimed the 12-point win.

Mt. Vernon was eight of 29 from the field over the first three periods before making eight of 25 in the fourth quarter alone, finishing 16 of 54 for the game for just under 30%.  The Rams also made just five of 12 foul shots and had just 15 rebounds.

Leighton Lark led Effingham with 12 points and nine rebounds.  Kevin Daugherty continued his great scoring off the bench with 10 points and added four rebounds.  Marcus Robinson came up big with nine points.  Kennan Mahaffey also scored nine points despite a hip injury.  Phil Knight and Braydon Bone each scored six points and Matt Wohltman scored two points.

Sophomore point guard Braden Fitzjerrells led Mt. Vernon with 13 points.  The Rams are 12-7 on the season.

Effingham went 2-1 in the tournament and improved to 11-4 on the season.  Effingham is back in action Wednesday at EHS against Paris in a makeup of a weathered-out game and travels to Charleston on Friday night.

Also at Salem, Marion won over Salem in a battle of Wildcats for the consolation championship and Edwardsville took on Centralia for the title.

In the consolation bracket semifinal games earlier Saturday, Marion won over Mattoon 73-57 and Salem defeated Lovejoy 71-55.