Remarkable Comeback Gives Hearts Win Over Olney; Other Tuesday Scores

The Effingham Hearts scored just eight points in the first half of their game Tuesday night, only two in the second quarter.

They were down by 15 points early in the third quarter.

And they won.

The Hearts staged a remarkable comeback in the second half to defeat the Olney Tigers 39-37 in overtime at EHS Gym.  The game was heard on 979XFM and www.979xfm.com.  

Effingham could hardly buy a basket in the first half, scoring six points in the first quarter on two buckets by Isaac Foreman and two foul shots by Kevin Daugherty and getting one basket from Matt Wohltman in the second period and that was their offensive output for the half, going three of 18 from the field.

The Hearts' solid defense played a big factor, though, as even though Olney hit five threes in the first half, Effingham was still down just 19-8 at halftime.

When Olney scored the first four points of the second half to push their lead to 15 points, it looked bleak, but the Hearts finally started to click on offense.  Eventually, Effingham scored 12 unanswered points as Foreman hit three shots, Kennan Mahaffey made two buckets and Daugherty hit a shot and Effingham pulled to within three points at 23-20.  Olney regrouped, though, getting a foul shot from Alec St. Pierre and a big three-pointer from Tate Nohren to push the lead back to 27-20 at the end of three quarters.  Nohren is the son of former Hearts player Ty Nohren and the grandson of Monty Nohren who, among his many accomplishments, is a former Hearts coach.

After hitting six of 10 shots in the third quarter, the Hearts turned white hot, making all six of their shots in the fourth quarter to outscore Olney 12-5 and force the overtime.  The Hearts got three baskets from Leighton Lark, two from Foreman and one from Marcus Robinson.  Effingham's first lead was 32-30 with two minutes left in regulation, but Olney got the tying basket to necessitate the extra period.

The extra period saw Chance Madden score five points for Olney on a three-pointer and two foul shots, but the Hearts got baskets from Mahaffey, Daugherty and Phil Knight and a foul shot from Wohltman to eke out the two-point victory.

The Hearts did not miss a shot from the field in the fourth quarter and overtime period.

Effingham finished 18 of 38 from the field for 47%, made three of four foul shots, turned the ball over just nine times and only three times in the second half, grabbed 21 rebounds and missed all three three-point tries.

Olney hit 12 of 34 shots for 35%, made six of eight from the line, turned the ball over nine times and grabbed just 14 rebounds.  The Tigers made seven of 19 three-point shots.

Isaac Foreman an inside force throughout the game, hitting seven of 10 shots for 14 points and grabbing five rebounds.  Kennan Mahaffey, Leighton Lark and Kevin Daugherty each scored six points, Matt Wohltman had four points, and Phil Knight and Marcus Robinson each scored two points. 

Chance Madden led Olney with 10 points, while Tate Nohren and Alec St. Pierre each scored nine, Evan Eagleson eight, and Ethan Eagleson one point.

The Hearts pushed their season record to 15-4, while Olney slipped to 15-7.

Effingham won the JV game 59-17 to improve to 10-1 on the season.  Grant Wolfe led the JV Hearts with 21 points while Michael Carie scored 14 points.

The Hearts host Mt. Zion in Apollo Conference action Friday night and then hold Senior Night activities against Pana on Saturday night.

At Effingham

OLNEY (37)

Et. Eagleson 0-1 -- 1, Madden 2-2 -- 7, Ev. Eagleson 3-0 -- 8, Nohren 3-2 -- 9, St. Pierre 4-1 -- 12, R. Eagleson 0-0 -- 0, Mi. DeVenecia 0-0 -- 0, Hahn 0-0 -- 0. TOTALS 12 FG, 6 FT.

EFFINGHAM (39)

Robinson 1-0 -- 2, Mahaffey 3-0 -- 6, Knight 1-0 -- 2, Wohltman 1-1 -- 3,  Lark 3-0 -- 6, Daugherty 2-2 -- 6, Foreman 7-0 -- 14. TOTALS 18 FG, 3 FT.

Olney               10    9       8      5    5    --    37

Effingham          6    2    12    12    7    --    39

3-point FG -- Olney 7 (Madden 1, Ev. Eagleson 2, Nohren 1, St. Pierre 3), Effingham 0.

Junior Varsity Game

Olney                     2      6      9    0    --    17

Effingham          20    15    15    9    --    59

Olney -- DeVenecia 0, Deimel 3, VanBlaricum 6, Stallard 4, Adams 4, Jones 0, Shippley 0, Baskerville 0, Ballard 0

Effingham -- Schafer 0, Vasquez 0, Beals 8, Zerrusen 7, Wolfe 21, Carie 14, Woltman 4, Jackson 0, Donaldson 0, Minor 3, Kasdorf 2, Barnes 0