Altamont Downs Cumberland at Game Where Altamont's Eighth-Graders, Our Own Matt Robinson Honored

The Altamont Indians avenged a loss to the Cumberland Pirates at the Cumberland Thanksgiving Tournament Tuesday night, downing the Pirates 64-43 in a game heard on 979XFM and www.979xfm.com. 

In the process, the Altamont community honored their eighth-grade girls basketball team for their state tournament run and honored our own Matt Robinson, an Altamont native, for his action this summer to pull an injured motorist from his burning vehicle.

By the way, our Zak Dietzen was at the game and videotaped the ceremony honoring Matt. The footage should be up on our social media sites by about 9am Wednesday.

Altamont trailed 4-2 in the first quarter, but then pulled ahead and never trailed the remainder of the game, leading 19-11 after one quarter, 36-26 at halftime, and 52-39 after three quarters before posting a 12-4 advantage in the final period to win by 21 points.

Altamont shot 56% from the field in the first half, then went four of 13 in the second half, but made 16 of 17 free throws to maintain, and even expand, their lead. The Indians finished the night 19 of 40 from the field including two of nine threes. From the line, though, they finished 20 of 21, not missing until the fourth quarter. Altamont turned the ball over 14 times and grabbed 26 rebounds.

Cumberland made 18 of 52 shots for 35% including one of 10 threes. They also made just 6 of 13 foul shots. Cumberland only turned the ball over 13 times and pulled down 25 rebounds.

Ryan Armstrong, who is approaching the all-time scoring record for Altamont basketball, led the Indians with 21 points on 6 of 13 shooting, plus 6 of 6 foul shooting with seven rebounds. Mitchell Stevenson scored 18 points on 6 of 12 shooting plus 6 of 6 from the line and five rebounds. Evan Cornett was also in double figures with 10 points. Also for Altamont: Sam Childerson 7, Wyatt Stone 5, and Drake Williams 3.

Tyson Magee was the offense for Cumberland, scoring 22 points but putting up 23 shots. Zach Wolke added 9 points, Cole Willenborg 4, Brody Donsbach 4, Mike Wolke 2, and Gabe Hatfill 2.

Altamont improved to 6-3 on the season, while Cumberland slipped to 6-4.

Altamont won the JV game 48-22.

Between the JV and varsity games, the Altamont Lady Wildcats were honored for Final Four finish at the state tournament, and Matt was recognized for his efforts to rescue a man whose vehicle had wrecked just ahead of Matt on the Altamont Blacktop. The man's vehicle ended up on its wheels after overturning several times. Matt went to the man's aide and got him out of the vehicle while a fire was starting in the vehicle.

Both the Altamont Fire Protection District and the Effingham County Sheriff's Department made presentations, with Altamont Fire Chief Jon Becker and Effingham County Sheriff Dave Mahon doing the honors. The gentleman assisted by Matt was also in attendance.

At Altamont

CUMBERLAND (43)

Butler 0-0 -- 0, Donsbach 2-0 -- 4, Willenborg 1-1 -- 4, Magee 9-4 -- 22, Z. Wolke 4-1 -- 9, Hatfill 1-0 -- 2, M. Wolke 1-0 -- 2. TOTALS 18 FG, 6 FT.

ALTAMONT (64)

Stevenson 6-6 -- 18, Flores 0-0 -- 0, Stone 1-3 -- 5, Biggs 0-0 -- 0, Williams 1-0 -- 3, Armstrong 7-6 -- 21, Childerson 3-1 -- 7, Cornett 3-4 -- 10, Brown 0-0 -- 0. TOTALS 21 FG, 20 FT.

Cumberland            11    15    13      4    --    43

Altamont                19    17    16    12    --    64

3-point FG -- Cumberland 1 (Willenborg 1), Altamont 2 (Williams 1, Armstrong 1).

Junior Varsity Game

Cumberland           5      2      6    9    --    22

Altamont             11    15    17    5    --    48

Cumberland -- Cox 0, Butler 2, LaBeaume 2, Brown 8, Dill 2, Figgins 0, Werner 0, Talley 5, Grissom 3, Mitchell 0

Altamont -- Delaney 0, Hammer 1, Burns 0, Biggs 18, Reardon 0, Jahraus 4, Kollman 2, Duckwitz 4, Klitzing 2, Teasley 6, Hill 2, Miller 0, Brown 9