Wooden Shoes Headed To Boys Basketball Sectional

By DUSTIN WHITE

After watching a 10-point second half lead evaporate for his Wooden Shoes, Teutopolis senior Joey Niebrugge watched both of his free throws find the bottom of the net with 3.3 seconds remaining as Teutopolis escaped the Class 2A Newton boys basketball regional with a 50-48 win over the host Eagles.

In a game heard on KJ Country 102.3, Newton tied the game at 48-all on a clutch Parker Wolf three-pointer to set up a final possession for the Shoes. Coming out of a time out with 10.7 seconds showing on the fourth quarter clock, Garrett Gaddis took the inbounds pass and drove the lane. His shot came up short but Niebrugge was there with the offensive rebound and was fouled on a putback attempt.

Having already hit three of four charity shots on the night, Niebrugge rattled two more home sandwiched around a Newton time out. The Eagles couldn’t get a quality look at the basket on the ensuing inbounds plays (their initial pass was poked out of bounds at midcourt by Niebrugge) and the Shoes faithful stormed the floor to celebrate the school’s 14th straight regional championship.

Newton’s season concludes at 21-11. Wolf led the Eagles with 24 points and crossed the 1,000-point plateau in the final game of his career. Dylan Gier tallied 11 and Caden Nichols, leading Newton at 17.4 per game on the year, was limited to seven thanks to the defense of Gaddis.

T-town got 18 from Gaddis and 10 from Niebrugge, while Tyler Pruemer added nine. Niebrugge also made an important three from the corner during the fourth period, which actually saw Newton take a brief one-point lead after the Shoes had held as much as a 10-point advantage during the third quarter and still led 37-30 heading into the final frame.

There were also chances for Teutopolis to grow the lead to double digits during the second quarter, but Newton stymied those and got it to 22-17 by halftime. T-town also led 14-12 after a back-and-forth first quarter during which the Eagles held their only other leads of the night . . .  also one-point advantages.

While he only scored two points on the night, senior reserve Zac Niebrugge also had a huge 2-for-2 trip to the line during that fourth quarter after putting up just one shot attempt for the Shoes all evening.

Teutopolis is 22-10 and advances to the Shelbyville Sectional, where it will face Tolono Unity after the No. 1-seeded Rockets whipped Warrensburg-Latham 65-46 to claim the Monticello Regional. This will be a rematch for the No. 2-seeded Shoes, who hosted Unity back on Dec. 2 and took a 60-52 loss as part of a challenging schedule that has been deemed the fifth-toughest in all of 2A by state-renowned Aaron Britton of nestohoops.com. 

CLASS 2A NEWTON REGIONAL

CHAMPIONSHIP

NEWTON (48)

Nichols 3-9 0-2 -- 7, Bierman 1-5 1-2 -- 3, Wolf 6-15 7-8 -- 24, Weber 1-2 0-0 -- 3, Gier 5-6 1-3 -- 11, Meinhart 0-3 0-0 -- 0. TOTALS 16-40 FG 9-15 FT.

TEUTOPOLIS (50)

Gaddis 5-16 6-11 -- 18, Kremer 1-6 0-0 -- 2, J. Niebrugge 2-4 5-6 -- 10, Koester 1-6 0-0 -- 2, Pruemer 3-5 2-2 -- 9, Z. Niebrugge 0-1 2-2 -- 2, Hoene 1-1 0-0 -- 2, Bloemer 1-3 0-0 -- 2, Lawson 1-2 0-0 -- 3. TOTALS 15-44 FG 15-21 FT.

Newton          12    5    13    18    --    48

Teutopolis     14    8    15    13    --    50

3-point FG -- Newton 7-21 (Nichols 1-2, Bierman 0-3, Wolf 5-10, Weber 1-2, Gier 0-1, Meinhart 0-3), Teutopolis 5-21 (Gaddis 2-9, Kremer 0-1, J. Niebrugge 1-1, Koester 0-5, Pruemer 1-2, Z. Niebrugge 0-1, Lawson 1-2).