Teutopolis vs. Belleville Althoff - 2A Carbondale Super-sectional - SIU Arena

2A Carbondale Super-sectional

Teutopolis

Belleville Althoff

Teutopolis (37) - B. Thoele 0 0 0-0 0, Kremer 6 1 4-6 19, Kreke 0 0 0-0 0, McWhorter 0 0 0-0 0, Probst 0 0 0-0 0, L. Buening 0 1 0-0 3, Thompson 0 0 0-0 0, Niebrugge 1 0 2-2 4, G. Buening 0 0 0-0 0, Addis 1 1 0-0 5, L. Thoele 0 0 2-2 2, Hoene 2 0-0 4, Worman 0 0 0-0 0, Mette 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-10/3FG-3/FT-8-10/PF-15.

Belleville Althoff (48) - Gryzmala 2 0 2-2 6, Smith 1 0 2-3 4, Hill, Jr. 5 2 5-7 21, Winkeler 1 2 2-2 10, Leib 0 0 1-2 1, Brown 1 0 2-2 4, Conway 0 0 0-0 0, Johnson 1 0 0-0 2, Flanders 0 0 0-0 0, Kantner 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-11/3FG-4/FT-14-18/PF-16.

Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.

Althoff advances to Final Four
Crusaders put away Teutopolis with late 13-0 run; win 48-37

03/10/2025
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARBONDALE – It wasn't easy for Belleville Althoff on Monday night in their 2A Super-sectional matchup against Teutopolis.

But it isn't supposed to be, right?

The Wooden Shoes played with the state's top-ranked club for the better part of three-and-a-half quarters.

However a 13-0 game-winning scoring burst sent Coach Greg Leib's Crusaders back to the state finals for the first time since 2016.

Like a flip of a light switch, Althoff turned it on and turned off the Wooden Shoes' season in a 48-37 victory on Monday night.

The Crusaders improved to 31-5 on the year and will face Chicago Christ the King in the 2A semifinals at 2:00 pm on Thursday at the State Farm Center in Champaign.

Althoff forced seven fourth quarter turnovers and held Teutopolis without a field goal for just over six minutes to lead by 14 with under a minute left.

Dierre Hill, Jr. led the Crusaders with 21-points on 7-of-12 shooting from the floor.

The University of Oregon signee for football, is trying to lead the school to its third state title in the school year.

The Crusaders won both the 1A football state championship and the 2A boy's soccer title this past fall.

Senior Zach Winkeler added 10-points for Althoff

Four of the basketball starters, two soccer and two football, were part of the previous state title runs.

“A lot of our guys are crossover athletes, don't sell our soccer team short. They won the state, too,” said Coach Leib about his sports program. “Two starters are soccer players, two starters are football players. Winning is winning, guys. We (coaches) share athletes. It (winning) is a great experience for the kids. It (state tournament) is a fun event and we haven't been up there since 2016. We've had some opportunities but it's hard to get up there.”

For Teutopolis, it was yet another defeat in the Elite Eight.

The Wooden Shoes have just one win (2022-23) in their last 10 super-sectional contests.

Senior guard Alex Kremer led Teutopolis (24-11) with 19-points but he got very little help in scoring.

Teutopolis rallied to tie he game twice in the second half, with the last even score coming with 6:14 remaining.

The next Wooden Shoes made field goal with a 3-pointer by reserve Landyn Buening with :13 left.

Luke Smith was a key part of the Althoff second half, coming up with big defensive plays.

His steal and fast break lay in the third quarter was part of 10 second half Teutopolis turnovers.
(CONTINUED

Kremer was special on Monday night.

He scored 12 of his points in the third quarter and his bucket off of a back door cut to the basket evened the score at 29-29 heading to the fourth quarter.

Junior guard Gavin Addis nailed down a 3-pointer to tie the game 32-32 in the final frame before the dam broke.

A Winkeler 3-point bomb from the left wing started the final scoring crusade for the Crusaders.

Bryden Gryzmala scored on a baseline drive before Hill, Jr. got inside for a shot in the lane to continue the run.

A rebound bucket by Hill, Jr. while being fouled by Teutopolis' Brody Thoele ended up in as an “And-One” and a 42-34 lead with 2:53 remaining.

Belleville Althoff closed out the super-sectional victory from the foul line.

Sophomore reserve Steven Brown, Smith and Hill, Jr. combined for 6-of-6 from the stripe as the Crusaders can pack their bags for a trip to Champaign.

The final two from Hill, Jr., with :24.5 left, sent the reserves on the floor for both coaches as the celebration began for Althoff.

“We put in a great effort and we wouldn't want anything else,” said Coach Leib. “That's why we were able to persevere tonight when things didn't go our way. We didn't play our best game but we were able to overcome it.”

The final numbers weren't kind for either team as once again the Bantera Center at SIU proved to be a tough shooting experience for both teams.

Althoff was just 15-of-41 from the field overall, 4-of-18 from the 3-point arc.

However they managed to come up with 11 offensive rebounds and converted the Wooden Shoes mistakes into 20-points off of turnovers, which was a big advantage.

Ten of the points came on fast break transition scores.

“That's our game. We want to turn you over and run it out,” said Coach Leib. “When we can do that we're a pretty effective team. They just believe in each other and they just keep battling. It (trip to state) means a lot for these guys. It's a special moment for them”

The Wooden Shoes managed just 13-of-34, 3-of-14 from the arc.

Althoff had just eight turnovers and produced nine steals of the 16 Teutopolis miscues.

This was the second postseason meeting between the two programs in a super-sectional.

The Wooden Shoes defeated Althoff, 67-53 in at the Class A Charleston Super-sectional back in 1994.

Coach Leib was able to put some humor into the post-game interview.

“We're the number one team in the state and we're also a Catholic school so they hate us all over the state and you can print that,” said Coach Leib, said tongue in cheek. “For the ones who know me I'm from Flora, Illinois and I married a gal from the Metro-East and I'm serving a life sentence.”