Hearts Take Third Place Honors at Salem

The Effingham Hearts defeated the Troy Triad Knights 48-34 Saturday evening to earn third place honors at the Salem Invitational Tournament.  The game was heard on 979XFM and www.979xfm.com. 

The Hearts led start-to-finish but could never shake the Knights.  Effingham led 13-8 after one quarter, but Triad pulled back to within two points before the Hearts regrouped to lead 23-19 at halftime.  Effingham outscored Triad 9-5 in the third quarter to lead 32-24, but Triad made one last run to pull within two before the Hearts finally earned some trips to the line where they found success and were able to put the game away, outscoring Triad 16-10 in the final quarter.

The 14-point final score is the biggest lead the Hearts mustered during the contest.

Effingham shot the ball well, making 17 of just 29 shots from the field for 59%.  They hit 10 of 16 from the line but five of seven in the fourth quarter.  Effingham only turned the ball over nine times, the second game in the tournament where they kept their turnover total in single digits.  Effingham grabbed 21 rebounds and made four of 10 three-point shots.

Triad made 10 of 29 shots for 34%, made 10 of 14 from the line, committed 12 turnovers but only three in the second half, grabbed 19 rebounds and made four of 11 three-point tries.

Effingham's Josh Stombaugh led all scorers with 15 points, including all 10 of the Hearts' points in the second quarter.  Also for Effingham: Hunter Keith and Clark Williamson each with seven with all of Keith's coming in the second half, Leighton Lark and Jake Stombaugh with six each, Alex Carie with three and Trenton Frey and Marcus Robinson with two points each.

Effingham finished 2-1 in the tournament and improved to 12-5 on the season heading back into Apollo Conference action Friday night against Charleston.