Hearts Eke Out 52-50 Win Over Olney

Mason Hull's floater from left of the basket with :06 remaining gave the Effingham Hearts a hard-earned 52-50 win over the Olney Tigers Tuesday night. The nailbiter at the EHS gym was heard on 979XFM and www.979xfm.com. 

Hull's bucket broke a tie and Olney could only manage an off-balance three-point try at the buzzer that was long and that was the ballgame.

The Hearts had an 11-point lead on two occasions, but those leads were the exception rather than the rule in a hard-fought game. Effingham led at all the stops, but not by much...13-9 after one quarter, 29-24 at halftime and 43-39 after three quarters. Olney actually outscored the Hearts 11-9 in the final quarter, but it wasn't enough.

Hearts' junior Landon Wolfe led the way with 27 points on 11-of-24 shooting and four-of-five from the line. Wolfe added six rebounds.

Hull scored 14 points including eight first quarter points. He was 5-of-9 from the field and led the Hearts with nine rebounds.

Cole Marxman was a force inside. The six-foot-eight junior scored six points, blocked at least four shots and pulled down eight rebounds.

Ryan Sandifer scored five points including a big three-pointer in the fourth quarter and grabbed two boards. 

Logan Smith and Lucas Hagler also gave good minutes and solid defense and Smith registered a couple of assists.

Brent Hatten scored 17 points to lead Olney, making 12-of-12 foul shots. Dakotah Brown added 13 points and Sutton Dunn scored 12 points.

Olney almost won the game at the foul line, making 16-of-16 attempts.

Effingham hit 21 of 49 shots for 43% including 5 of 14 threes. The Hearts were five-of-nine at the line, pulled down 26 rebounds and turned the ball over just six times.

Olney was 15 of 39 for 38% from the field including 4 of 15 threes. The Tigers grabbed 23 rebounds and committed just five turnovers.

The Hearts improved to 4-2 on the young season and face a test Friday night, heading to Lincoln for the first time in Apollo Conference play. Olney fell to 2-4 on the season.

Olney won the JV game 41-34. Tate Niebrugge led the Hearts' JV with 16 points for the second straight game. Cameron Kalber added six points.

At Effingham

OLNEY (50)

Flanagan 0-0 -- 0, Brown 5-2 -- 13, Stallard 0-0 -- 0, Hatten 2-12 -- 17, Zuber 2-0 -- 6, Foster 1-0 -- 2, Dunn 5-2 -- 12. TOTALS 15 FG, 16 FT.

EFFINGHAM (52)

Sandifer 2-0 -- 5, Hagler 0-0 -- 0, Wolfe 11-4 -- 27, Hull 5-1 -- 14, Smith 0-0 -- 0, Marxman 3-0 -- 6. TOTALS 21 FG, 5 FT.

Olney                       9    15    15    11    --    50

Effingham             13    16    14    9    --    52

3-point FG -- Olney 4 (Zuber 2, Hatten 1, Brown 1), Effingham 5 (Hull 3, Wolfe 1, Sandifer 1).

Junior Varsity Game

Olney                  13    5      9    14    --    41

Effingham            2    3    13    16    --    34

Olney -- Aquine 2, Doll 7, Williams 18, Conley 2, Johnson 3, Adams 2, Rodgers 5, Dietrich 0, Lambird 0, Miller 0, Ducnas 2, Sonomadagva 0, Pajonk 0

Effingham -- Niebrugge 16, Kalber 6, Utz 4, Waldhoff 4, Donsbach 0, Pemberton 2, Cramsey 0, Thompson 2