Shoes Advance to Sectional Championship, Ticket Info

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Published on March 1 2018 6:33 am
Last Updated on March 1 2018 6:52 am
Written by Millie Lange

ROBINSON -- Trailing throughout most of the first half, things looked just a little bleak for Teutopolis High School in the Class 2A Robinson Boys Basketball Sectional Wednesday evening. But the Shoes had a 31-29 second half to pull out a 56-52 win over Eldorado and advance to the title contest.

Eldorado ripped off to a 5-0 early lead but T-town fought back to knot the score. The Shoes even took an 8-7 lead on a three-pointer by Lee Hardiek. But the Eagles moved ahead 15-11 at the end of the opening quarter as Braden Attebury produced seven of those points.

That lead went to 17-11 at the start of the second period and the Eagles led 23-18 on a six-point run by Eldorado as John Meredith connected on two free throws and a basket and Ray May nailed a shot.

That didn't faze the Shoes. Clint Weber went to work on an old-fashioned three-point play, his second of the quarter, then nailed another free throw before a Lee Hardiek three-pointer with 38 seconds remaining gave the Shoes a 25-23 lead at halftime. Weber finished with nine of his team's 14 points while Hardiek provided the rest with five.

The Shoes pushed even farther ahead to start the third period on a basket by Hardiek but here came the Eagles. May hit a bucket, Attebury a shot and Jacob Traxler a basket and suddenly Eldorado had regained control and moved into a 29-27 lead.

But a basket by Dawson Smith tied the score and an Eric Kremer three-pointer moved the Shoes ahead for good. T-town held a 41-37 lead going into the final period.

From there, Hardiek opened with a three-pointer and Smith followed with two free throws and the pace quickened. Eldorado pulled back within three points with 1:30 remaining and missed two shots that could have tied the score. Kremer came up big with a rebound and was fouled on that second miss. Kremer hit one free throw and Hardiek followed with two with 25.8 seconds remaining and the Shoes ahead 55-49.

A three-pointer by Atteberry had the Eagles within 55-52 but Smith finished out with a free throw in the final seconds for the 56-52 victory.

"The kids are pretty resilient," said T-town Coach Jason Hanson. "They've played in a lot of big games and they don't seem to get too high or too low. They just stayed with it. We've worked on defense the last couple of weeks and I thought we handled their two big kids and forced them into a lot of tough shots. It's hard to shoot over us.

"Weber had a very good game and Hardiek had some good passes and made some good decisions."

Hardiek finished with 20 points while Weber chipped in with 14. Smith led in rebounds with eight and had nine points while Kremer also contributed nine points. T-town advances with a 22-8 record.

Now, it's on to face an opponent the Shoes have been waiting for since last year. Mount Carmel ousted the Shoes in the West Frankfort Sectional by a 66-64 count. The Shoes had two shots at the end of the game fall off the rim. Mount Carmel's Jackson Marcotte led the team with 28 points and 15 rebounds but has since suffered a knee injury that has slowed him. The Golden Aces are 19-11 on the season.

Game time Friday evening in the championship game is 7 p.m.

Ticket Information --

Tickets will go on sale today at Teutopolis High School for the championship game. Tournament players, managers and cheerleaders may purchase tickets at 9:15 am. followed by non-tournament boys basketball players at 9:30, girls basketball players at 9:45, Pomerettes at 10 and students during the lunch hour.

Qualified staff may purchase tickets from 1-3 p.m. Gold Seat holders and current Sports Backers Steering Committee members will be sold tickets at 4 p.m. adn then to the general public until 5 p.m. No admittance to the THS building until 3:50 p.m.

All tickets are $5 each and are general admission.

Class 2A Robinson Sectional

TEUTOPOLIS (56)

Smith 1-8 7-12 9, Weber 5-12 4-7 14, Kremer 3-6 1-2 9, Addis 1-5 0-0 2, L. Hardiek 6-10 4-5 20, Jansen 1-1 0-0 2, Funneman 0-2 0-0 0. TOTALS 17-44 FG (38.6) 16-26 FT (61.5)

ELDORADO (52)

Meredith 2-5 2-2 6, Oglesby 0-0 0-0 0, May 4-9 0-0 8, Traxler 4-16 3-4 11, Atteburgy 9-18 1-2 21, Mayberry 2-3 0-2 4, Shewmaker 1-1 0-0 2. TOTALS 22-52 FG (42.3) 6-10 FT (60.0)

Teutopolis             11    14    16    15    --    56

Eldorado               15      8    14    15    --    52

3-point FG -- Teutopolis 6-12 (Smith 0-3, Kremer 2-3, Addis 0-1, Hardiek 4-4, Funneman 0-1), Eldorado 2-10 (Meredith 0-1, May 0-2, Attebury 2-6, Mayberry 0-1). Rebounds -- Teutopolis 22 (Smith 8, Weber 5), Eldorado 27 (Attebury 9, Meredith 8). Turnovers -- Teutopolis 14, Eldorado 15.