Hearts Win Boys Season Opener

The Effingham Hearts started their boys high school basketball season in style, defeating Champaign St. Thomas More 86-68 in a game heard on 979XFM and www.979xfm.com.

Effingham started strong out of the gate, but St. Thomas More stayed close by hitting three point shots. The Hearts led 22-18 after one quarter. Effingham pushed the lead to as much as 12 points late in the second quarter before the Sabres made a run. St. Thomas More outpointed the Hearts 24-23 in the second quarter and trailed by just 45-42 at halftime.

The Hearts put the game away in the third quarter, outpointing St. Thomas More 16-2 to take a 61-44 lead. A 25-24 fourth quarter gave the Hearts the 18-point victory.

Effingham hit 32 of 67 shots, 48%, made 15 of 20 foul shots, turned the ball over 13 times and made seven of 18 three point tries.

St. Thomas More made 21 of 51 shots for 41% including 10 of 24 threes. The Sabres made 16 of 26 foul shots, and turned the ball over 15 times. Effingham outrebounded St. Thomas More 36-25 including 20-8 on the offensive boards.

Effingham had four double figure scorers...Grant Wolfe with 22, Landon Wolfe with 19, Brent Beals with 18 and Jacob Donaldson with 13. Also for the Hearts: Mason Hull 4, Cooper Jackson 3, Ryan Sandifer 3, Trevor Kreke 2 and Lucas Hagler 2.

Albion Francis with 15 points and Tanner Klein with 12 points paced St. Thomas More.

The Hearts will be back in action Wednesday at 6:30pm taking on Okaw Valley. Hear the game on 979XFM and www.979xfm.com. That will be followed by the St. Anthony vs. St. Thomas More at 8pm also on 979XFM. At 5pm, Breese Central will play Mattoon.

In other scores at St. Anthony,  Breese Central beat Chicago Corliss 65-55 and Robinson downed Mattoon 53-36.

St. Anthony Tournament

ST. THOMAS MORE (68)

Lee 3-0 -- 8, Blomberg 1-1 -- 3, Summit 0-0 -- 0, Bobo 4-1 -- 9, Fruchling 2-1 -- 6, Francis 3-9 -- 15, Morris 2-0 -- 6, Herr 3-0 -- 9, Minders 0-0 --0, Klein 3-4 -- 12, Jones 0-0 -- 0. TOTALS 21 FG, 16 FT.

EFFINGHAM (86)

Jackson 1-0 -- 3, Sandifers 1-0 -- 3, Hagler 1-0 -- 2, L. Wolfe 9-1 -- 19, Huelsbusch 0-0 -- 0, Kreke 1-0 -- 2, Hull 0-4 -- 4, G. Wolfe 7-6 -- 22, Lohman 0-0 -- 0, Beals 7-2 -- 18, Petersen 0-0 -- 0, Donaldson 5-2 -- 13, Smith 0-0 -- 0, Marxman 0-0 -- 0. TOTALS 32 FG, 15 FT.

St. Thomas More            18    24      2    24    --    68

Efifngham                        22    23    16    25    --    86

3-point FG -- St. Thomas More 10 (Herr 3, Lee 2, Morris 2, Klein 2, Fruchling 1), Effingham 7 (G. Wolfe 2, Beals 2, Jackson 1, Sandifer 1, Donaldson 1).