VIDEO: Dieterich Moves Into NTC Tourney Title Game

The Dieterich Movin' Maroons moved into the championship game of the 78th Annual National Trail Conference Tournament Thursday night with a 78-61 win over the Cowden-Herrick Hornets.

Meanwhile, the St. Elmo Eagles downed the Neoga Indians 49-36 to advance to the consolation championship game.

Both games were heard on 979XFM and www.979xfm.com, where live audio and video streaming is being provided for each game of the tournament.

Dieterich 78, Cowden-Herrick 61

This was a wild and wooly affair with numerous records being set or tied for three-pointers.

Both teams had runs in the early part of the game, but the contest was tied 15-15 after one quarter.  After Cowden-Herrick pulled out to a 10-point lead early in the second quarter, Dieterich came roaring back to take a 10-point lead of their own by halftime.  Dieterich outscored the Hornets 27-17 in the period to lead 42-32 at halftime.

Cowden-Herrick put on their own charge in the third quarter and came back to tie the game before Dieterich bounced back to lead by eight at the end of the period.  Dieterich then outscored Cowden-Herrick 23-14 in the fourth quarter to win by 17 points

Dieterich made 28 of 66 shots from the field for 42%, canned 13 of 18 foul shots, committed just six turnovers in a high-octane game, grabbed 33 rebounds and made nine of 24 three-point shots.

Cowden-Herrick made 23 of 52 shots from the field for 44%, hit on three of just six foul shots, committed 20 turnovers, grabbed 29 rebounds and made 12 of 27 three-point shots.

If you were counting, you heard that the teams tried 51 three-pointers and made 21 of them, and both of those are tournament records.  The previous record for three-pointers attempted by two teams in a game was 41 by Windsor and Cowden-Herrick in 1996, and the previous record for made three-pointers by two teams in a game was 16 by Teutopolis and Stewardson-Strasburg in 1996, and that was a double overtime game.

Cowden-Herrick tied its own record established in 1996 against Windsor with 27 attempted three-pointers, and set a record for most made three-pointers in a game with 12, breaking the previous record of 11 set by Teutopolis and tied by Neoga on the same date in 1991 and tied by Stewardson-Strasburg in 1996.

Dalton Hinterscher had another monster game for Dieterich, scoring 36 points, 20 in the second half.  Tanner Traub scored 11 and Alex Bohnhoff 10 for the Maroons, while Devin Aherin added nine, Brandon Westjohn eight, and Travis Niemerg four.

Ethan Schoonover scored 20 points to pace Cowden-Herrick, while Luke Moore and Colton Burrus each scored 16 points with Moore posting his second straight double-double by also grabbing 16 rebounds.  Also for Cowden-Herrick: Caleb Heiserman five, and Tyson Morgason and Seth Barnes two each.

Dieterich, the top seed in this year's tournament, moves into the championship game with a 14-6 record.  The Movin' Maroons will take on the winner of Friday night's Altamont/Stewardson-Strasburg game at 7:30pm Saturday in the title game.

Cowden-Herrick, the #4 seed and now 13-7 on the season, will play the loser of the Altamont/Stewardson-Strasburg game at 2:30pm Saturday for third place.

Here's ticket information for Dieterich fans:

Tickets will be sold Friday morning from 9-9:15am to Board of Education members, administration, athletic director, and coaches of teams participating, with those allowed to buy one ticket per immediate family member.

Players on the tournament roster will be allowed to buy one ticket per immediate family member from 9-9:15am.

From 9:15-9:30am, staff members can buy two tickets each.

From 9:30-9:45am, high school students can buy one ticket apiece.

From 9:45-10am, reserved seat and season ticket holders can buy two tickets per pass, junior high students can buy one ticket each, and family season pass holders can buy one ticket per person on the pass list.

From 10-11am, members of the general public can buy four tickets each.

Immediate family members are defined as parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, and any spouse of a brother or sister.

The maximum number of tickets any person can buy is 10.

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St. Elmo 49, Neoga 36

This game was marked by a tremendous defensive performance on Neoga's leading scorer Jake Baker and the inability by anyone else on the Neoga squad to make up the difference.

Baker has been scoring from 20 to 30 points per game most of the season for Neoga, but he was held Thursday to six points.  Most of the credit goes to the Eagles' Ben Davis who covered Baker like a blanket for most of the contest.

As far as no one else picking up the slack, St. Elmo led Neoga 16-3 at the end of the first quarter and the Eagles cruised home from there.  St. Elmo outscored Neoga 8-7 in the second quarter to lead 24-10 at halftime, and outscored them 7-3 in the third quarter to lead 31-13.

In the fourth quarter, Wyatt Krikie shook loose to pour in 13 points for Neoga, but it was too little, too late.  Neoga did outscore St. Elmo 23-18 in the quarter to account for the 13-point St. Elmo win.

Neoga made 13 of 37 shots for 35% while St. Elmo made 16 of 43 shots for 37%.  Neoga made just three of 10 foul shots while St. Elmo canned 13 of 19 charity shots.  Neoga turned the ball over 14 times to just nine for St. Elmo, and St. Elmo edged Neoga 23-22 on the boards.  Neoga made seven of 16 three-point attempts, while St. Elmo made four of 13 threes.

Levi Maxey led St. Elmo with 21 points, while Connor Beasley scored 12 points, Garrett Bartels eight, Reece Wells seven, and Ben Davis one.

Krikie finished with 20 points to pace Neoga, while Jake Baker had six, Trevor Moore five, Brandon Maroon three, and Jon Atwell two.

Neoga slips to 8-14 and is eliminated from further tournament play, while St. Elmo improved to 11-9 and will play the winner of Friday's South Central/St. Anthony game at 1pm Saturday for the consolation championship.

Once again, Friday's action with feature South Central vs. St. Anthony at 6:15pm in a consolation bracket semi-final game with the winner playing St. Elmo Saturday, followed by Altamont and Stewardson-Strasburg about 7:45pm with the winner playing Dieterich for the championship and the loser meeting Cowden-Herrick for third place.

Once again, both Friday games will be heard on 979XFM and www.979xfm.com. 

NTC Tournament

Game Nine

NEOGA (36)

Maroon 1-0 -- 3, Atwell 1-0 -- 2, Krikie 7-1 -- 20, Aleshire 0-0 -- 0, Moore 2-1 -- 5, J. Baker 2-1 -- 6,  M. Baker 0-0 -- 0, Walk 0-0 -- 0. TOTALS 13 FG, 3 FT.

ST. ELMO (49)

Bartels 2-4 -- 8, Brady 0-0 -- 0, Beasley 6-0 -- 15, Wells 2-3 -- 7, L. Maxey 6-5 -- 18, Smithson 0-0 -- 0, Davis 0-1 -- 1. TOTALS 16 FG, 13 FT.

Neoga            3    7    3    23    --    36

St. Elmo       16    8    7    18    --    49

3-point FG -- Neoga 7 (Maroon 1, Krikie 5, J. Baker 1), St. Elmo 4 (Beasley 3, L. Maxey 1)

Game 10

DIETERICH (78)

Hinterscher 11-9 -- 36, Traub 4-1 -- 11, Bushue 0-0 -- 0, Bohnhoff 3-2 -- 10, Aherin 4-1 -- 9, Westjohn 4-0 -- 8, Niemerg 2-0 -- 4, Campton 0-0 -- 0. TOTALS 28 FG, 13 FT.

COWDEN-HERRICK (61)

Heiserman 2-0 -- 5, Wheeler 0-0 -- 0, Moore 7-1 -- 16, Black 0-0 -- 0, Burrus 6-0 -- 16, Lorton 0-0 -- 0, S. Barnes 1-0 -- 2, Schoonover 6-2 -- 20, Morgaon 1-0 -- 2, D. Barnes 0-0 -- 0, Miller 0-0 -- 0. TOTALS 23 FG, 3 FT.

Dieterich                      15    27    13    23    --    78

Cowden-Herrick          15    17    15    14    --     61

3-point FG -- Dieterich 9 (Hinterscher 5, Traub 2, Bohnhoff 2), Cowden-Herrick 12 (Heiserman 1, Moore 1, Burrus 4, Schoonover 6).

VIDEO

Dieterich vs. Cowden-Herrick