DePaul College Prep Dashes Teutopolis' Dreams Of Title

CHAMPAIGN -- Chicago DePaul College Prep dashed any hopes Teutopolis had of reaching the Class 2A State Tournament championship game by handing the Wooden Shoes a 45-17 loss at the State Farm Center Thursday.

Despite every effort by the Shoes, DePaul was unstoppable offensively and T-town had a hard time against a very tough defense.

DePaul eased out to a 10-6 opening quarter lead behind five of eight from the field for 62.5 percent. Peyton Kamin tallied six in the quarter.

T-town was struggling against a smothering defense and connected with three of seven from the field. James Niebrugge hit two baskets and Caleb Siemer a bucket.

That defense continued strong in the second quarter with the Shoes hitting only two of nine shots and scoring only five points.

DePaul, meanwhile hit four of eight for fifty percent in the quarter to push ahead 19-11 at halftime.

Trailing by eight, T-town attempted a comeback but the Rams quickly squelched that as 6-foot-0 Maurice Thomas went to work. Thomas hit only one basket in five attempts and missed both free throw attempts in the first half but was on fire in the third quarter.

Thomas connected on a three-pointer and Joey Niebrugge came back with a basket. But Thomas hit another three-pointer and Coach Chet Reeder called a time out in an attempt to slow down the Rams.

James Niebrugge connected on a basket making it 25-15 and the Shoes were still within 10 after Siemer hit.

But Thomas was again unstoppable with two back-to-back baskets and the lead went to 31-17 with another time out coming from T-town. With 2:05 remaining in the third quarter. T-town just couldn't get back on track and hit only three of eight from the field while DePaul connected on six of 10 and led 35-17 going into the final period.

From there, DePaul controlled the ball and finished with five of seven from the field for 10 points while holding T-town to zero for the winning margin. The Shoes missed 10 attempted final period shots.

Thomas finished with 16 points on seven baskets, two of those from three-point range. Jaylan McElroy was the only other Rams player in double figures with 10.

The Shoes were led by James Niebrugge with eight points and Siemer with four. Siemer led in rebounds with seven.

DePaul Prep advanced with a 22-12 record to the championship game scheduled for Saturday at 12:45 p.m.

Teutopolis dropped into the third place contest set for 8:45 p.m. today against either Bloomington Central Catholic or Taylor Ridge Rockridge.

Class 2A State Tournament

DEPAUL PREP (45)

Kvamme 1-1 0-0 2, Chambers 3-4 0-0 7, Kamin 3-6 0-0 6, Thomas 7-12 0-2 16, McElroy 5-7 0-0 10, Walls 0-0 0-0 0, Johnson 1-1 0-1 2, Stewart 0-1 0-0 0, Barkley 0-0 0-0 0, O'Shields 0-1 0-0 0, West 1-1 0-0 2, Hoste 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS 21-34 FG, (61.7%) 0-3 FT

TEUTOPOLIS (17)

B. Niebrugge 0-4 1-3 1, Ja. Niebrugge 4-11 0-0 8, Jo. Niebrugge 1-3 0-0 2, Siemer 2-6 0-0 4, C. Bloemer 0-0 0-0 0, Gaddis 1-3 0-0 2, Roepke 0-1 0-0 0, Koester 0-1 0-0 0, Lawson 0-1 0-0 0, Kremer 0-0 0-0 0, Pruemer 0-0 0-0 0, Z. Niebrugge 0-0 0-0 0, A. Bloemer 0-1 0-0 0, Bushur 0-0 0-0 0, Thompson 0-1 0-0 0. TOTALS 8-32 FG (25.0 %) 1-3 FT (33.3%)

DePaul                   10     9    16    10     --    45

Teutopolis              6      5      6      0    --    17

3-point FG -- Chicago DePaul College Prep 3 (Thomas 2, Chambers 1), Teutopolis 0.