Hearts Down Bulldogs at St. A. Tourney

VIDEO UNDER STORY

The Effingham Hearts won the battle of the two city schools, downing the St. Anthony Bulldogs 72-50 in boys high school basketball at the St. Anthony Thanksgiving Tournament Friday night.  The game was heard on 979XFM & www.979xfm.com.

Effingham led start-to-finish, up 16-9 after one quarter and 29-23 at halftime before opening up the contest in the second half, outscoring St. Anthony 43-27 after intermission.

The Hearts played well throughout the contest, particularly in the second half when their penetration to the basket led to numerous scores.  Effingham shot at an 85% clip from the field after intermission, making 17 of 20 shots.  Overall, the Hearts made 29 of 49 shots for 59%.  Effingham made 13 of 17 foul shots, committed 12 turnovers but just five in the first three quarters, pulled down 20 rebounds and made one of four three-point tries.

St. Anthony made 14 of 40 shots for 35%, as the Hearts continually clogged the middle and prevented any easy buckets inside.  The Bulldogs made 20 of 31 foul shots, committed 19 turnovers and grabbed 21 rebounds while making two of seven three-pointers.

Effingham's Clark Williamson led all scorers with 20 points on nine of 14 shooting.  Leighton Lark scored 14 points on four of five from the field and five of seven from the line.  Hunter Keith ran a good floor game and also scored 12 points on five of eight shooting.  Tim Gardewine scored eight points, Kennan Mahaffey had five, Alex Carie, Phil Knight and Isaac Foreman each scored four points, and Trenton Frey scored one point.

Junior point guard Neil Williams led St. Anthony with 17 points on four of seven shooting from the field and eight of 11 from the line.  Jacob Schuette scored 14 points on six of 12 shooting, and John Goeckner scored 11 points and grabbed six rebounds.  Also for St. Anthony, Zach Gardewine scored three points, Alex Hoelscher and Andrew Gardewine each scored two points, and Connor Greene scored one point.

In the other contests at St. Anthony Friday, Mt. Zion beat Mattoon 66-52, Charleston won over Belleville Althoff 62-54, and Robinson came from 10 down to beat Breese Central 59-50.

At the end of pool play, Robinson is 3-0, Effingham, Charleston and Belleville Althoff are each 2-1, Mt. Zion, Mattoon and Breese Central are each 1-2, and St. Anthony is 0-3.

Since the tiebreaker fell to free throw percentage, here are the matchups for Saturday: 3pm--St. Anthony vs. Breese Central...4:30pm--Effingham vs. Mattoon...6pm--Charleston vs. Mt. Zion...7:30pm--Robinson vs. Belleville Althoff.  We'll have a doubleheader...Bulldogs at 3pm and Hearts at 4:30pm...on 979XFM and www.979xfm.com. 

VIDEO: EHS vs. St. Anthony