02-04-12
BY JACK BULLOCK
BENTON – The Teutopolis Wooden Shoes survived a poor shooting second quarter and warmed up just in time in the second half to pick up a road win at the Rich Herrin Shootout at Benton High School.

The Harrisburg Bulldogs had chances to upend T-Town but couldn't put together a big enough offensive run to get a lead in the second half.

The result was a 71-59 win by Teutopolis as the 'Shoes improved to 22-2 on the season while Harrisburg fell to 21-5.

Teutopolis was led in scoring by Mark Niebrugge with 21-points while teammate Kyle Pruemer banged his way inside for 16-points.

The Wooden Shoes also got 10-points from Jon Mette while reserve guard Devin Falbe came off the bench to nail a trio of 3-pointers to finish with nine points.

Harrisburg got 21-points from Tyler Smithpeters while Capel Henshaw, Ryne Roper and Eli Taborn-Scott all finished with 12-points each.

But it was the defensive end of the floor for the Wooden Shoes that turned out to be the difference in the game.

Teutopolis held a 33-24 rebounding edge and forced Harrisburg into 17-turnovers.

“Harrisburg has a nice team and some great athletes. Some really explosive players. The Taborn-Scott kid is a load down there in the paint,” said Teutopolis head coach Andy Fehrenbacher. “I was really worried about how we were going to defend him.”

After a rough first half offensively, Teutopolis got rolling in the final 16-minutes to grab the victory.

T-Town committed just 14-turnovers but ten of those were in the first half.

Coach Andy Fehrenbacher's club pulled away in the fourth quarter, thanks to two costly Harrisburg miscues that resulted in back-to-back 3-pointers by Niebrugge and Falbe.

Trailing just 50-48 with 4:58 to go, Harrisburg suddenly found themselves down eight.

Pruemer cashed in 1-of-2 free throws and a fast break score by Niebrugge capped a 9-0 run that doomed the Bulldogs.

Smithpeters, who got to the foul line more than any other player in the game, hit a free throw to cut the Harrisburg deficit to just 64-59 with :47 left.

However Teutopolis polished off the win by sinking 7-of-8 free throws with Niebrugge nailing four of those shots.

“They (Teutopolis) are a good team and we want that kind of competition,” finalized Coach Smithpeters.

While T-Town connected just 23-of-58 attempts overall in the contest, they managed to get hot enough in the fourth quarter (6-of-10) to pick up the win.

Harrisburg could muster only an 18-of-44 effort from the field in the defeat.

“We had a couple of possessions where we could have tied the game but we didn't execute, those were trips we never really finished,” said Coach Randy Smithpeters. “Those are things that we have to get better at. That is one of the reasons we want to play teams like Teutopolis. We need to play this type of competition. These games come down to a possession or two. We cut it down to two points and then they (Teutopolis) come down and hit two 3's on us. It comes down to the little things. We knew we had to guard the 3-point line and we had a hard time keeping them off the boards.”

Smithpeters hit 14-of-16 free throws to help keep his squad close.

But as it turned out, there wasn't enough in the offensive tank for the Bulldogs to get the lead in the second half.

Teutopolis opened the game by turning a 4-0 Harrisburg lead into an 18-8 Wooden Shoes advantage at the end of one.

Pruemer scored five early points, converting a conventional three-point play and also getting inside for another score.

Derek Smith and Falbe connected from beyond the 3-point arc to give T-Town a ten point edge.

Teutopolis threw in a clunker of a second quarter to let the Bulldogs off the mat.

Committing six turnovers and hitting just 1-of-10 shots from the floor, the Wooden Shoes let Harrisburg even the score at 20-all after a Ryne Roper 3-pointer from the left corner.

But Niebrugge nailed an off-balanced 23-footer from the right wing with :04 left and the Wooden Shoes salvaged the half with a 23-20 lead at intermission.

“We came up with big stops and we rebounded and that kept us in the game in the second quarter,” added Coach Fehrenbacher. “It took us awhile to get going. When you are not familiar with the surroundings like this place, it take some time to get going.”

Eli Taborn-Scott scored ten of his points in the second half and his consecutive scores in the final two minutes on the third quarter got Harrisburg to within 43-42.

However Falbe nailed another trey from the right wing to give Teutopolis back the momentum heading into the fourth quarter.

“Smithpeters is a good player and Henshaw and Roper are solid players,” added Coach Fehrenbacher. “It is a great win for our guys. They're a quality team and this is a great win.”

Teutopolis (71) – Falbe 0 3 0-0 9, Niebrugge 2 3 8-8 21, Waldhoff 3 0 0-0 6, Deters 0 0 1-2 1, Smith 1 2 0-1 8, Hardiek 0 0 0-0 0, Repking 0 0 0-0 0, Wenthe 0 0 0-0 0, Mette 3 0 4-5 10, Schultz 0 0 0-0 0, Pruemer 6 0 4-8 16. 2FG-15, 3FG-8, FT-17-24, PF-20.
Harrisburg (59) – Barners 0 0 0-0 0, Smithpeters 2 1 14-16 21, Younger 0 0 0-0 0, Henshaw 4 0 4-8 12, Roper 2 2 2-2 12, goldman 1 0 0-0 2, Taborn-Scott 6 0 0-0 12, Upchurch 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-15, 3FG-3, FT-20-26, PF-19.
Fouled Out – Smith, Teutopolis; Roper, Harrisburg.
Technical Fouls – None.

C.J. Lemmons led Hamilton County with 22-points in the win, including a pair of 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.

Adam Rubenacker, Levi Lueke and Chad Flannigan all scored 12-points apiece for the Foxes, who improved their record to 9-14 with the victory.

Mount Carmel saw its mark slip to 7-16, despite 22-points from Nathaniel Wagner and 17-points from freshman Levi Laws.

Sophomore Reese Metcalf added 10-points for Mount Carmel.  

Mount Carmel (63) – Hannah 0 1 0-0 3, Laws 2 4 1-2 17, Wagner 3 3 7-8 22, Metcalf 5 0 0-0 10, Molstad 0 0 0-0 0, Allen 0 0 0-0 0, Thompson 2 0 3-4 7, Diel 1 0 2-2 4.
2FG-13, 3FG-8, FT-13-16, PF-20.
Hamilton County (66) – Rubenacker 2 2 2-2 12, Cross 0 0 0-0 0, Reyling 0 0 0-0 0, Lemmons 5 3 3-5 22, Anselment 1 1 3-5 8, Lueke 4 0 4-6 12, Flannigan 5 0 2-4 12, Stevens 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-17, 3FG-6, FT-14-22, PF-14.
Fouled Out – Laws, Mount Carmel.
Technical Fouls – None.

Tyler Hutcheson and Cody Bailey scored 14-points each in the win.

Senior guard T.J. Roy topped all scorers with 18-points for Neoga (9-14).

Fairfield improved to 17-8 on the season.

Fairfield (59) – Downen 0 0 0-0 0, Griffith 1 0 0-0 2, Slover 2 1 0-0 7, Koontz 0 0 0-0 0, Fry 0 0 0-0 0, Hutcheson 6 0 2-3 14, Bailey 5 0 4-5 14, Ferrari 3 1 2-2 11, Kollak 0 0 0-0 0, Mc Meen 5 0 1-1 11, Greifzu 0 0 0-0 0, Simpson 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-22, 3FG-2, FT-9-11, PF-16.
Neoga (42) – Walk 0 0 0-0 0, Yurs 0 0 0-0 0, Roy 2 4 2-3 18, Krikie 1 0 1-2 3, Probst 3 0 1-2 7, Roberts 1 0 0-0 2, Kline 1 0 0-1 2, Baker 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-11, 3FG-4, FT-8-14, PF-12.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.

Coach Wade Thomas' club (7-20) had four players go off for double-figures in scoring, led by Kelly Lonergan with 20.

Hunter Zeigler and Austin McPheron added 16-points each while Levi Tanner added 12.

Winless Webber Township (0-20) got 12-points from Ty Henderson.

Webber Township (28) – Austin 0 0 1-2 1, O'Dell 1 0 0-0 2, Welch 0 0 0-0 0, Dye 1 0 2-6 4, Bush 0 0 0-0 0, Henderson 6 0 0-0 12, Dickie 3 1 0-0 9, Raudenbush 0 0 0-0 0, Moser 0 0 0-0 0, Lynn 0 0 0-0 0, Knepler 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-11, 3FG-1, FT-3-8, PF-14.
Johnston City (78) – Tanner 4 1 1-2 12, Zeigler 3 1 7-8 16, Stallings 0 0 0-0 0, McPheron 6 0 4-4 16, Johnson 3 0 0-1 6, Davison 4 0 0-0 8, Lonergan 3 4 2-3 20.
2FG-23, 3FG-6, FT-14-18, PF-10.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.

Casey-Westfield (54) – Blankenship 1 0 1-2 3, Huisinga 0 0 0-0 0, Scales 1 1 0-0 5, Murphy 1 0 2-4 4, Wolfe 4 1 8-8 19, McCown 6 0 3-6 15, Nichols 0 0 0-0 0, Bolin 4 0 0-0 8.
2FG-17, 3FG-2, FT-14-20, PF-20.
Benton (65) – Forby 4 0 1-3 9, Smith 1 0 0-0 2, Johnston 2 2 2-2 12, Garrett 8 1 3-6 22, Childers 4 0 0-0 8, Leffler 1 1 3-4 8, Ward 0 0 0-0 0, LaBuwi 1 0 2-3 4.
2FG-21, 3FG-4, FT-11-18, PF-18.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.