Dieterich, Cowden-Herrick Advance in Winners Bracket at NTC Tourney

The top-seeded Dieterich Movin Maroons were pushed to the brink, but a corner three with less than four seconds remaining by Tanner Traub gave Dieterich a 48-45 win over the Neoga Indians at the National Trail Tournament at Altamont.  The Cowden-Herrick Hornets downed the St. Elmo Eagles 56-46 in the other contest so the seeds held in Tuesday night action heard on 979XFM and www.979xfm.com. 

Thursday night action at the tournament is now set, with Neoga playing St. Elmo at 6:15pm in the consolation bracket and Dieterich taking on Cowden-Herrick at 7:45pm in the championship bracket.

Dieterich 48, Neoga 45

This one was a tight, tense battle throughout the contest.  Neoga jumped out to a 9-1 lead before Dieterich closed the gap to 11-7 after the first quarter.  Dieterich continued to score in the second quarter, outpointing the Indians 20-14 to take a 27-25 halftime lead.  Neoga came storming back in the third quarter, though, outscoring Dieterich 14-9 to lead 39-36 at the end of the period.

The intensity really ratcheted up for the fourth quarter as Dieterich outscored Neoga 12-6 in the period to post the win.  After Traub's three-pointer gave the Maroons the lead, Neoga got the ball to mid-court and launched a three that hit off the back iron at the buzzer.

Dalton Hinterscher led Dieterich with 27 points in the contest.  Austin Bushue scored nine points and grabbed seven rebounds.  Travis Niemerg had five points, Devin Aherin three and Brandon Westjohn one.  Traub's winning three were his only points in the game.

Jake Baker led Neoga with 20 points.  Michael Baker added seven points, Wyatt Krikie and Riley Walk six each, Jon Atwell four and Brandon Maroon two.

Dieterich improved to 13-6 on the season, while Neoga dropped to 8-13 and saw a five-game winning streak snapped.

Cowden-Herrick 56, St. Elmo 46

Here's another game that wasn't decided until the end.

St. Elmo got out of the gate well, leading 16-10 after one quarter, but Cowden-Herrick then outscored St. Elmo 16-10 to see the game tied at 26-26 at halftime.  The Hornets outscored the Eagles 13-10 in the third period to take a 39-36 lead and Cowden-Herrick outpointed St. Elmo 17-10 in the fourth quarter to post the 10-point win.

Cowden-Herrick shot 53% from the field, overcoming 16 turnovers and a night when St. Elmo outrebounded the Hornets and committed just eight turnovers.

Luke Moore had a big night for the Hornets with 23 points and 10 rebounds.  Colton Burrus added 15 points and Ethan Schoonover scored 10 points.  Caleb Heiserman and Tyson Morgason scored four points each.

For St. Elmo, Connor Beasley and Levi Maxey each scored 14 points, while Garrett Bartels had nine points and Reece Wells seven points.

Cowden-Herrick improved to 13-6 on the season, while St. Elmo slipped to 10-9.

Three more games are set for tonight at Altamont.  At 5pm, Beecher City will take on Windsor in a fifth place bracket game.  That will be followed by two championship bracket quarterfinal games as Altamont takes on South Central and then St. Anthony will play Stewardson-Strasburg in a rematch of a game last Friday night won by the Bulldogs at home.

NTC Tournament

Game Four

DIETERICH (48)

Hinterscher 9-5 -- 27, Traub 1-0 -- 3, Bushue 4-1 -- 9, Bohnhoff 0-0 -- 0, Aherin 0-3 -- 3, Westjohn 0-1 -- 1,  Niemerg 1-3 -- 5. TOTALS 15 FG, 13 FT.

NEOGA (45)

Maroon 1-0 -- 2, Atwell 2-0 -- 4, Krikie 2-0 -- 6, Moore 0-0 -- 0, J. Baker 8-2 -- 20, M. Baker 3-1 -- 7, Walk 3-0 -- 6. TOTALS 19 FG, 3 FT.

Dieterich            7    20      9    12    --    48

Neoga              11    14    14      6    --    45

3-point FG -- Dieterich 5 (Hinterscher 4, Traub 1), Neoga 4 (Krikie 2, J. Baker 2)

Game 5

COWDEN-HERRICK (56)

Heiserman 2-0 -- 4, Wheeler 1-0 -- 2, Moore 7-4 -- 21, Burrus 6-1 -- 15, Schoonover 4-1 -- 10, Barnes 0-0 -- 0, Morguson 1-2 -- 4, Miller 0-0 -- 0. TOTALS 21 FG, 8  FT.

ST. ELMO (46)

Bartels 4-0 -- 9, Brady 0-0 -- 0, Beasley 6-0 -- 14, Wells 3-1 -- 7, L. Maxey 5-4 -- 16, Bauer 0-0 -- 0, Smithson 0-0 -- 0, Davis 0-0 -- 0. TOTALS 18 FG, 5 FT.

Cowden-Herrick          10    16    13    17    --    56

St. Elmo                      16    10    10    10    --    46

3-point FG -- Cowden-Herrick 6 (Moore 3, Burrus 2, Schoonover 1), St. Elmo 5 (Bartels 1, Beasley 2, Maxey 2).