No. 1, No. 2 For NTC Tournament Championship

That means it'll be #1 vs. #2 for the conference tournament championship Saturday night as the St. Anthony Bulldogs will take on the Altamont Indians. Altamont defeated #3 Windsor/Stew-Stras 49-45 Friday night in yet another barnburner at what has been one of the most closely-contested tournaments ever. The Altamont win followed a one-point win for South Central 43-42 to set up the finals for Saturday. 

Both games were heard on Classic Hits 979XFM and www.979xfm.com. 

The semifinal contest between Altamont and Windsor/Stew-Stras was never more than five points apart. The teams were tied 13-13 after one quarter, Altamont led 23-21 at halftime, and Altamont led 32-31 after three quarters before the Indians outscored the Hatchets 17-14 in the final quarter to win by four points.

Both teams made their moves to try and take over the game, but great defense would bring the other back in check.

Altamont shot 42% from the field, making 19 of 45 shots including 5 of 16 threes. Windsor/Stew-Stras made 18 of 37 shots, 49%, including 2 of 8 threes. The Indians and the Hatchets each made six of 11 free throws. Windsor/Stew-Stras outboarded Altamont 21-20. The Hatchets turned the ball over 12 times to just six for Altamont. 

Mason Robinson led Altamont with 15 points, making four three-pointers. Eric Kollman was also in double figures for Altamont with 10 points. Also for Altamont: Noah Klimpel 7, Tyler Robbins 5, and Jared Hammer, Will Schultz and Logan Cornett 4 each. Kollman also led Altamont with seven rebounds.

Austin Wittenberg exploded in the second half for Windsor/Stew-Stras. After scoring five points in the first half, Wittenberg scored 18 points after intermission to finish with 23 points. Samuel Vonderheide was also in double figures for the Hatchets with 14 points. The only other players scoring for the Hatchets were Landon Miller with 5 and Jordan Wittenberg with 3. Jordan Wittenberg led the Hatchets with seven rebounds.

Altamont improved to 18-5 on the season, while Windsor/Stew-Stras is also 18-5. 

Altamont already had their ticket sales for the championship game after the game Friday night.

The Indians will take on St. Anthony for the championship Saturday night at 7:30pm. Bulldogs fans can still buy tickets from 10am to noon today at St. Anthony High School for $5 each. Remaining tickets will be sold at the door starting at 6:45pm. 

As far as the seeds, National Trail Conference historian Kurt Becker tells us the current format with four games on closing day (three games in the daytime and the championship game at night) originated in 2012. Kurt says this marks the first time that the seeds have held for all four games on closing day.

Under the old format, with three games on closing day, Kurt said the last time the seeds held was in 2005. 

The first game Friday night was a one-point affair, as South Central edged Neoga 43-42. 

It was another nip-and-tuck affair, with the game tied 10-10 after one quarter, Neoga leading 23-21 at halftime, and South Central in front 33-28 after three quarters before Neoga outscored the Cougars 14-10 to account for the one-point final.

South Central made 15 of 32 shots, while Neoga made 15 of 35. Neoga made 8 of 17 threes, but South Central made 14 of 18 foul shots while Neoga made four of six free throws. South Central edged Neoga 19-16 on the boards, and each team turned the ball over 10 times.

Spencer Johannes led South Central with 16 points and Aiden Dodson scored 11 points. Also for South Central, Keenin Willshire 8, Brandt Hiestand 4, and London Hails and Ethan Watwood 2 each. 

Paci McClure led Neoga with 13 points. Also for Neoga, Quentin Richards 9, Brady Reynolds and Luke Romack 6 each, Kaden Young 5, and Will O'Dell 3. 

South Central improved to 18-6, while Neoga is now 13-8. 

That sets up the finals for Saturday. At 11:30am in the seventh place game, St. Elmo/Brownstown will take on Neoga, at 1pm in the consolation championship Dieterich will play South Central, and at 2:30pm in the third place game North Clay will take on Windsor/Stew-Stras. St. Anthony will play Altamont for the tournament championship at 7:30pm. 

Hear the games on 979XFM and www.979xfm.com. Watch the live video stream on our YouTube channel.

National Trail Conference Tournament

Game Nine

NEOGA (42)

Reynolds 2-0 -- 6, Young 2-0 -- 5, Peters 0-0 -- 0, McClure 5-0 -- 13, Richards 3-2 -- 9, O'Dell 1-0 -- 3, Romack 2-2 -- 6. TOTALS 15 FG, 4 FT.

SOUTH CENTRAL (43)

Hails 0-2 -- 2, Watwood 1-0 -- 2, Dodson 3-5 -- 11, Johannes 5-6 -- 16, Buonaura 0-0 -- 0, Willshire 4-0 -- 8, Hiestand 2-0 -- 4. TOTALS 15 FG, 13 FT.

Neoga                         10    13      5    14    --    42

South Central            10    11    12    10    --    43

3-point FG -- Neoga 8 (McClure 3, Reynolds 2, Young 1, Richards 1, O'Dell 1), South Central 0.

Game 10

ALTAMONT (49)

Hammer 2-0 -- 4, Robinson 4-3 -- 15, Klimpel 3-0 -- 7, Robbins 2-1 -- 5, Cornett 2-0 -- 4, Schultz 2-0 -- 4, Kollmann 4-2 -- 10. TOTALS 19 FG, 6 FT.

WSS (45)

Bridges 0-0 -- 0, A. Wittenberg 9-4 -- 23, Chaney 0-0 -- 0, Vonderheide 6-1 -- 14, Miller 2-0 -- 5, J. Wittenberg 1-1 -- 3. TOTALS 18 FG, 6 FT.

Altamont          13    10      9    17    --    49

WSS                 13      8    10    14    --    45

3-point FG -- Altamont 5 (Robinson 4, Klimpel 1), Windsor/Stewardson-Strasburg 3 (A. Wittenberg 1, Vonderheide 1, Miller 1).