Published on March 3, 2026 11:03 pm
Last Updated on March 3, 2026 11:05 pm
MONTICELLO — For a fleeting moment Tuesday night, Joey Probst’s drive into the paint during what — for all anyone in the Sievers Center knew — might be Teutopolis High School’s final possession seemed to be ill-fated.
The senior’s driving progress had stopped in the lane with defenders all around as he pivoted once, twice and settled for an extremely tough turnaround look.
… but then it dropped.
The bucket gave the Wooden Shoes a 40-39 lead over Warrensburg-Latham with 27 seconds remaining in regulation and they held on to win by that same margin, ending the Cardinals’ season for the second straight year and advancing to Friday’s championship game of the Class 2A Monticello Sectional.
Warrensburg (29-5) had burned all its time outs and couldn’t stop play to draw something up, but the Cardinals still got a pretty good look for two from Alex Hardin during the ensuing possession.
Hardin’s jumper was too strong, Probst got the rebound, and it suddenly became a huge problem for them that they’d only committed one team foul in the fourth quarter with just seconds left to play.
Teutopolis (30-3) weathered the flurry of fouls to follow and got the ball successfully inbounded after each one, with the final inbound play after Warrensburg’s fourth team foul taking the game to the final buzzer.
A year ago, the Shoes needed overtime to beat Warrensburg 37-35 in the title game of the Tolono Unity Sectional just a few days removed from eliminating Monticello in OT during the semifinals. This year, T-town now awaits the winner of Wednesday’s other semifinal between Tolono Unity and Fairfield.
Probst ended up with six points on the night while Isaac McWhorter led the Shoes with 10. Kendal Mette gave T-town eight enormous points off the bench and another reserve, Landyn Buening, knocked down a couple key triples on a 6-for-13 three-point shooting night for the team.
T-town’s bench outscored Warrensburg’s 14-0 in a game that featured six ties and six lead changes.
Things looked rough early for Teutopolis; the Shoes committed seven first-quarter turnovers and after going up 2-0 watched the Cardinals scored the next seven points in a row and take a 9-6 edge into the first quarter break. T-town had it tied at 18 by halftime, however, and at one point in the third quarter had opened up a 33-23 lead.
Warrensburg punched back, however, getting within six as the fourth quarter began and eventually reclaiming a one-point lead at 39-38 with a couple minutes remaining. The Cardinals missed some key free throws, however, and couldn’t widen that margin any more before Probst hit his big shot in the aftermath of Warrensburg’s ninth and final turnover at the other end of the floor.
There’ll be rematch vibes no matter who the Shoes play Friday; they eliminated Fairfield in last year’s regional final level and have accounted for Tolono’s only two losses this season, once during regular season play and once in the title game of the Effingham-Teutopolis Christmas Classic.
Game time Friday is 6:30 p.m. with a trip to Monday’s Pontiac Super-Sectional on the line.
Class 2A Monticello Sectional
Semifinal
At the Sievers Center, Monticello High School
WARRENSBURG-LATHAM (39)
Bonds 8-2 — 20, Czajkowski 1-0 — 2, Southern 2-0 — 6, Hardin 1-2 — 5, McKenzie 2-1 — 6, Reedy 0-0 — 0, Ernst 0-0 — 0. TOTALS 14 FG, 5 FT.
TEUTOPOLIS (40)
McWhorter 4-1 — 10, Joey Probst 3-0 — 6, Kreke 0-0 — 0, Addis 2-0 — 5, Thoele 2-1 — 5, Jake Probst 0-0 — 0, L. Buening 2-0 — 6, G. Buening 0-0 — 0, Mette 3-0 — 8. TOTALS 16 FG, 2 FT.
Warrensburg-Latham 9 9 9 12 — 39
Teutopolis 6 12 15 7 — 40
3-Point FG — Warrensburg-Latham 6 (Bonds 2, Southern 2, Hardin, McKenzie), Teutopolis 6 (McWhorter, Addis, L. Buening 2, Mette 2).