Salem Upends Hearts

It was another case of throw the records out of the window when you play on the road in the Apollo Conference Friday night as the Salem Wildcats nipped the Effingham Hearts 37-36. The game was heard on 979XFM and www.979xfm.com.  

Salem headed into the game with a 2-13 record while the Hearts were 11-3 and coming off a great win at Taylorville last Friday night. 

It looked like Effingham was going to post another win as the game got started. The Hearts had an early six-point lead, but Salem pulled to within 13-10 at the end of the first period and points got tougher for Effingham to come by from that point. A 10-10 second quarter standoff left the Hearts in front 23-20 at halftime. Salem was within two at 32-30 after three quarters. Salem finally pulled ahead in the third quarter, but the Hearts responded by going up by four, and then the Wildcats got a bucket late in the period to pull within two.

The game was nip-and-tuck throughout the fourth quarter until Brenden Boles scored on a reverse lay-up with three seconds left to give Salem the lead. The Hearts tried a deep pass to set up a last second shot, but the pass was intercepted and Salem had the win.

Effingham hit six of nine shots in the first quarter, but just nine of 28 over the final three quarters. The Hearts scored 13 points in the second half. Effingham also made just four of nine foul shots. The Hearts committed just 11 turnovers, and pulled down 22 rebounds.

Salem made 47% of its shots, hitting on 14 of 30 attempts. They made seven of 12 foul shots, turned the ball over 12 times and grabbed just 16 rebounds.

Grant Wolfe led Effingham with 11 points, 10 in the first half. Sean Zerrusen scored nine, all in the first quarter. Michael Carie scored eight points, Jared Minor six, and Braydon Bone two points.

Boles came off the bench to lead Salem with 15 points.

Effingham won the JV game 50-45. Brent Beals led the JV Hearts with 16 points, while Brady Jackson added nine points.