Published on November 26, 2025 6:41 am
Last Updated on November 26, 2025 11:27 pm
Effingham High School and St. Anthony both fell to 0-2 in pool play Wednesday at the St. Anthony Thanksgiving Tournament, falling to Edwardsville and Chicago Leo at the Enlow Center.
EHS spotted Edwardsville a 38-19 halftime lead but battled hard down the stretch in a 63-47 decision, while St. Anthony put on a furious second-half run against Leo that saw a 13-point second-half deficit shrink to as little as a single tally in what ended up being a wire-to-wire 38-32 victory for the Lions.
Jenner Pals led the Flaming Hearts (0-2) with 13 points and eight rebounds, scoring 10 in the second half. He was Effingham’s only double-figure contributor; Jake Niebrugge chipped in nine in his season debut while Cannon Bockhorn finished with eight.
Edwardsville (2-0) had four players in double figures led by Brady Niemi’s 16. Rowan Weller added 12 and piled up 10 assists as the Tigers doubled up the Hearts in each of the first two quarters by 16-8 and 22-11 margins.
St. A (0-2) trailed 15-7 after one quarter with Leo (3-0) and outscored the Lions the rest of the way. The Bulldogs got within a 31-30 margin during the fourth quarter and had a handful of possessions to potentially tie or take the lead, but the go-ahead bucket never materialized.
Keenan Griffith led the Northsiders with nine points and seven rebounds, while Gabe Looman contributed eight points and four boards. Brian Kizer’s 10 points and seven rebounds paced the Lions.
The two city schools will now turn their attention to each other look when they return to the floor Friday at 7:30 p.m. Whoever wins that game and avoids being swept in Pool A play will vie for fifth place Saturday at 4:30 p.m., while the loser will look to salvage one tournament victory in the 3 p.m. seventh-place contest.
Defending champ Edwardsville and tournament newcomer Leo will square off Friday at 3 p.m. with a berth in Saturday’s 7:30 p.m. title game at stake. Whoever drops that game will have to settle for second place in Pool A and a spot in Saturday’s 6 p.m. third-place game.
The other game played Wednesday at St. Anthony High School saw Mattoon get past Rantoul 70-58 to improve to 1-1 in Pool B while the Eagles fell to 1-1. Rantoul will try to spoil Breese Central’s path to the championship game when it plays the 2-0 Cougars Friday at 4:30 p.m., while Mattoon will look to saddle 0-2 Normandy with the pool play collar when they square off at 6 p.m. Friday.
St. Anthony Thanksgiving Tournament
Pool A
At the Enlow Center
Effingham 8 11 17 11 – 47
Edwardsville 16 22 13 12 – 63
EFFINGHAM (47)
Niebrugge 4-10 0-0 – 9; Bockhorn 2-7 4-4 -8; Pals 6-18 0-0 – 13; Buzzard 1-3 0-1 – 2; Phillips 3-6 0-0 – 6; Fearday 0-0 0-0 – 0; McDaniel 1-1 0-0 – 2; Bridges 1-2 0-0 – 2; Traub 1-2 0-0 – 3; Love 1-2 0-0 – 2; Warner 0-1 0-0 – 0; Kinkelaar 0-0 0-0 – 0; Thompson 0-0 0-0 – 0; Gonzalez 0-0 0-0 – 0; Moser 0-0 0-0 – 0; Wendt 0-0 0-0 – 0. TOTALS: 20-53 FG, 4-5 FT.
EDWARDSVILLE (63)
Niemi 5-7 1-2 – 16; Hill-Lomax 3-5 0-0 – 6; Weller 3-5 6-11 – 12; Butler 4-11 0-0 – 10; Lindstedt 2-4 1-2 – 6; Donald 0-0 1-2 – 1; Nguyen 0-2 2-2 – 2; Wedel 0-0 0-0 – 0; Hoeller 0-0 0-0 – 0; Roberts 0-0 0-0 – 0; Wilson 3-4 2-5 – 10. TOTALS: 20-38 FG, 14-24 FT.
Three-Point FG: Effingham 3-16 (Niebrugge 1-1, Bockhorn 0-4, Pals 1-8, Buzzard 0-1, Traub 1-2); Edwardsville 9-18 (Niemi 5-7, Butler 2-8, Lindstedt 1-2, Wilson 1-1). Rebounds: Effingham 29 (Pals 8, Love 4), Edwardsville 25 (Wilson 5). Turnovers: Effingham 12, Edwardsville 9. Fouls: Effingham 21, Edwardsville 10. Fouled Out: Effingham 1 (Love).
St. Anthony 7 4 11 10 – 32
Chicago Leo 15 5 11 7 – 63
ST. ANTHONY (32)
Waldhoff 2-10 0-1 – 5; Bierman 0-3 2-2 – 2; Lauritzen 2-8 0-0 – 4; Griffith 4-11 1-2 – 9; Looman 3-5 2-2 – 8; Storm 0-0 0-0 – 0; Mayer 1-1 0-0 – 2; Jansen 1-2 0-0 – 2; Verdeyen 0-0 0-0 – 0, Sehy 0-1 0-0 – 0. TOTALS: 13-41 FG, 5-7 FT.
CHICAGO LEO (38)
Echols 2-6 0-0 – 6; Harris 3-6 2-4 – 9; Henderson 0-2 0-0 – 0; Kizer 1-7 8-10 – 10; Stephens 2-4 0-0 – 4; Shavers 2-4 0-0 – 5; Orr 2-4 0-0 – 4; Brooks 0-0 0-0 – 0; Tucker 0-2 0-0 – 0; Dale 0-1 0-0 – 0. TOTALS: 12-36 FG, 10-14 FT.
Three-Point FG: St. Anthony 1-9 (Waldhoff 1-3, Bierman 0-1, Lauritzen 0-1, Griffith 0-2, Jansen 0-1, Sehy 0-1); Leo 4-14 (Echols 2-3, Harris 1-3, Henderson 0-1, Kizer 0-2, Stephens 0-1, Shavers 1-2, Orr 0-1, Tucker 0-1). Rebounds: St. Anthony 21 (Griffith 7, Looman 4), Leo 26 (Henderson 7, Kizer 6). Turnovers: St. Anthony 14, Leo 16. Fouls: St. Anthony 10, Chicago Leo 15. Fouled Out: None.