Beecher City, Altamont, Stew-Stras Post Wins Wednesday at NTC Tournament

The Beecher City Eagles, the Altamont Indians and the Stewardson-Strasburg Comets posted wins Wednesday night at the 78th Annual National Trail Conference basketball tournament.  All three contests were heard on 979XFM and heard and seen on www.979xfm.com. 

Beecher City defeated the Windsor Blue Devils 72-56 to advance to the seventh place game Saturday at 11:30am against the Brownstown Bombers.

Altamont came from behind to defeat the South Central Cougars 38-30, and Stew-Stras avenged a defeat last Friday night by winning over the St. Anthony Bulldogs 65-55.

Beecher City 72, Windsor 56

This contest started as a low-scoring affair, but didn't stay that way.

Beecher City led 9-6 after one quarter, but the Eagles posted a 23-8 advantage in the second quarter to lead 32-14 at halftime.  Windsor regrouped, though, and outscored Beecher City 20-17 in the third quarter to pull within 49-34.  Beecher City edged Windsor 23-22 in the final quarter to post the 16-point win.  Windsor scored 42 points in the second half after managing only 14 points in the first half.

Beecher City shot the ball magnificently, making 27 of 41 shots for 66%, including seven of eight on three-point attempts.  The Eagles made nine of 15 foul shots, turned the ball over 21 times and pulled down 28 rebounds.

Windsor made just 39% of its shots, 22 of 56, but made 18 of 35 shots in the second half.  Windsor was also seven of eight from the line, committed 15 turnovers and grabbed 19 rebounds while making five of 18 three-point shots.

Donovan Riley scored 22 points to lead Beecher City, while Brady Barnes scored 16 points and Doug Krueger 15 points.  Also for Beecher City: Brandon Gardner five, Adam Doty and Dylan Flick four each, and Blake McKay, Carter Wills and Andrew Lagerhausen two each.

Freshman Tristan Warner scored 15 points to lead Windsor, while Alex Allen and Hayden Cole each scored 12 points and Trey Leasher scored 10 points.  Also for Windsor: Christian Smith four and Cole Tilford three points.

Beecher City improved to 7-11 with the win, while Windsor fel to 4-16 on the campaign and is eliminated from further tournament play.

Altamont 38, South Central 30

South Central played the vast majority of the game at the tempo they desired and it just about resulted in a victory by the #10 seed against the tournament's #2 seed.

South Central led the game 8-3 after the first quarter, trailed 14-13 at halftime and were behind 22-21 after three quarters before Altamont finally got the lid off and outscored the Cougars 14-9 in the fourth quarter to post the eight-point win.

Altamont made just 31% of its shots, 13 of 42.  The Indians made 11 of 16 foul shots, turned the ball over just eight times and pulled down 19 rebounds while making just one of 11 three-point attempts.

South Central only made 33% of its shots, 12 of 36.  The Cougars made just six of 14 foul shots, committed 14 turnovers and grabbed 28 rebounds while missing all five three-point tries.

Garrett Ziegler broke loose late to lead Altamont with 15 points.  Also for Altamont: Aaron Goeckner seven, Justin McGinnis six, Jon Kuhns four, Jake Seidel three, Ryan Mayhaus two and Logan Hill one point.

Fischer Tharp scored 14 point to lead South Central, while Rudy Hablewitz scored seven, Noah Powless six, Joel Rose two and Brett Harmeier one.

Altamont improved to 14-5 on the season while South Central fell to 5-14 on the season.  The Indians will play Stewardson-Strasburg in the second game Friday night whle the Cougars will take on St. Anthony in the opener Friday.

Stewardson-Strasburg 65, St. Anthony 55

In a rematch from last Friday night, when St. Anthony handled Stew-Stras and won 60-45, the Comets took control of this game from the outset.  Stew-Stras led 19-10 after one quarter, extended the lead to 35-22 at halftime, and pushed the advantage to 52-36 after three quarters.

However, the Bulldogs had a finishing kick in the fourth quarter, outscoring Stew-Stras 19-13 to at one time pull within seven points before the Comets collected their breath and made foul shots down the stretch to win it by 10.

It's the first time in St. Anthony's history that the Bulldogs have lost a quarterfinal game in the NTC Tournament, dating back to 1952.

The Bulldogs' John Goeckner, who scored 10 points Friday night, finished with two points in Wednesday's contest as he is hampered by a hip flexor and back problems.

Brandon Helmuth and Justin Fulk...Mr. Inside and Mr. Outside for the Comets...each scored 18 points, while Jason Fry and Jason Becker each scored eight, Jon Luce six, Dylan Roley four, and Ben Helton two points.

St. Anthony was paced by senior Jacob Schuette who scored 20 points while Charlie Schultz added 13 points, Andrew Gardewine with seven, Alex Hoelscher six, Neil Williams five, and John Goeckner and Jason Vogel two each.

The Comets made 21 of 53 shots for 53% while making 20 of 36 foul shots, committing 19 turnovers and pulling down 30 rebounds.

The Bulldogs made just 37% of its shots, 22 of 59, while making 10 of 13 foul shots, committing 15 turnovers, pulling down 25 rebounds and making just one of six three-point shots.

Two more games are scheduled for Thursday night at the NTC Tourney.  At 6:15pm, Neoga will take on St. Elmo in a consolation bracket semifinal game and at 7:45pm, Dieterich will play Cowden-Herrick in a winners bracket semifinal game.  We'll have both games on 979XFM and www.979xfm.com, starting just after 6pm. 

NTC Tournament

Game Seven

ALTAMONT (38)

Ziegler 4-7 -- 15, Goeckner 2-2 -- 7, McGinnis 3-0 -- 6, Seidel 1-1 -- 3, Hill 0-1 -- 1, Borders 0-0 -- 0, Kuhns 2-0 -- 4, Mayhaus 1-0 -- 2, Jahraus 0-0 -- 0. TOTALS 13 FG, 11 FT.

SOUTH CENTRAL (30)

Harmeier 0-1 -- 1, Hablewitz 3-1 -- 7, Tharp 5-4 -- 14,  Ratermann 0-0 -- 0, Rose 1-0 -- 2, Schwarm 0-0 -- 0, Powless 3-0 -- 6. TOTALS 12 FG, 6 FT.

Altamont                 3    11    8    16    --    38

South Central          8      5    8      9    --    30

3-point FG -- Altamont 1 (Goeckner 1), South Central 0.

Game Eight

STEW-STRAS (65)

Helmuth 5-8 -- 18, Helton 1-0 -- 2, Roley 2-0 -- 4, Becker 2-4 -- 8, Luce 3-0 -- 6, Fry 2-3 -- 8, Fulk 7-5 -- 19. TOTALS 22 FG, 20 FT.

ST. ANTHONY (55)

Williams 2-0 -- 5, Z. Gardewine 0-0 -- 0, Schutte 10-0 -- 20,  Gibson 0-0 -- 0, Schultz 3-7 -- 13, A. Gardewine 2-3 -- 7, Hoelscher 3-0 -- 6, Goeckner 1-0 -- 2,  Vogel 1-0 -- 2. TOTALS 22 FG, 10 FT.

Stew-Stras           19    16    17    13    --    65

St. Anthony          10    12    14    19    --    55

3-point FG -- Stew-Stras 1 (Fry 1), St. Anthony 1 (Williams 1).