03-01-13 BY SETH WHITEHEAD FOR A BASELINE VIEW.COM GREENVILLE -The pressure almost got to Brett Mette as he stepped up to the foul line late in the first overtime of Friday's championship game of the Class 2A Greenville Sectional. "I was really nervous and I was shaking really bad," Mette said. "It's probably the worst I've been shaking in my whole life." And Mette had every reason to have a case of the jitters. Not only was the Wooden Shoes' season riding on the 6-foot-4 forward's ability to finish off a three-point play, as T-Town trailed 45-44 to Breese Central with 28 seconds remaining, Mette is also just a freshman. But you'd never guess it after watching him calmly swish the game-tying free throw. The Cougars then missed a desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer, and the Wooden Shoes rode the momentum to a 13-8 advantage in the second OT, knocking off the defending Class 2A state champions 58-53 in an epic tilt that saw eight ties and nine lead changes. "Being a freshman at that juncture of an overtime sectional game, and then going to the line and hitting a free throw to tie it up — not many freshman can do that," T-Town coach Andy Fehrenbacher said. It helps that Mette grew up watching three older brothers compete in similar situations for the Wooden Shoes, something Fehrenbacher acknowledges probably helps Mette — and many other T-Town players — perform in pressure situations."You see how many young kids we have in the crowd," Fehrenbacher said. "They see their older brothers or older cousins playing. They want to be in those moments. That's that family tradition we have with our program." Mette and fifth-ranked Wooden Shoes (28-3) will try to add to that tradition Monday at the Carbondale Super-Sectional where they will take on No. 1 Harrisburg at 8 p.m. at SIU Arena.T-Town takes a 20-game winning streak into its third-straight super-sectional appearance, and the Wooden Shoes have their defense — and some slick play on offense in the second overtime — to thank for it. After free throw by Kyle Pruemer and a pair of charity tosses by Derek Smith gave T-Town an early lead in the second OT, Mette followed up his clutch free throw with a back-to-back buckets to give the Shoes a coveted five-point advantage, the biggest lead by either team up to that point. The latter bucket was set up by a perfect bounce pass from the free throw line by Pruemer to a cutting Mette, a play very similar to the freshman's three-point play in the first overtime. "That was actually a counter of a certain play that we run," Fehrenbacher said. "It was a great pass and a great finish by Mette."Breese Central (22-10) simply wouldn't go away though, as Jacob Timmermann came right back with a pullup 3-pointer to cut T-Town's lead to just two heading into the final minute. T-Town worked the clock down to 37.5 seconds and took a timeout to draw up another set play. The Shoes executed to perfection once again, as Cody Will inbounded the ball from the left sideline to a cutting Devin Falbe, who went in for a layup that gave T-Town a two-possession advantage. "We had the two post guys come across the lane, and Derek (Smith) set a backscreen for Devin at the top of the key, and he he came around," Falbe said. "He switched a screen and he was wide open. "That out of bounds play is a set play we've run in the past," Fehrenbacher said. "It hasn't really worked (before), but it worked to perfection tonight." Breese Central coach Stan Eagleson felt that the Will-to-Falbe and Pruemer-to-Mette plays were the keys to the game. "We missed a couple switches where they slid down the lane and got layups probably three times," Eagleson said. "That was probably the difference in the ballgame. They got more easy buckets than we did." Pruemer and Falbe sealed the deal with a pair of free throws apiece in the final 24 seconds, as the Wooden Shoes hit 10-of-11 from the line in the second overtime after some charity stripe struggles kept them from taking control in the middle part of the game. T-Town got on track from the line in the fourth quarter, hitting 8-of-11, including a pair by Smith (15-points, five rebounds) that had the Shoes up three points with 1:09 remaining. A Luis Perez 3-pointer evened the game up at 40 with :35 to go, however, and Falbe couldn't get a contested pullup jumper to fall at the buzzer.Cougars reserve Greg Meyer (16 points) was a thorn in the Shoes' side all night, never more so than whe his free throws to put Breese Central up by three with :39 left in the first overtime. Meyer finished 8 for 8 from the line, but Will matched that with 8 for 8 free throw shooting of his own for the Shoes, and T-Town's ability to get to the line throughout the night was a huge deciding factor in the game. The Wooden Shoes wound up making 30-of-40 charity attempts, compared to 13 of 21 by the Cougars. "We knew they had some foul trouble, and we felt we needed to keep attacking either in the post or off the dribble, not settling so much for mid-range shots," Fehrenbacher said. "They are quick enough to stay with you and contest those shots, and those are tough shots to hit." Central outrebounded T-Town 31-24, including numerous offensive rebounds, but the Cougars shot just 34 percent from the floor and had 15 turnovers in a game in which is dictated its preferred slower pace. "We really struggled at the offensive end tonight," Eagleson said. "You have to give T-Town a lot of credit for that. They come out and pressure you and they took us out of stuff we like to do.” "We preach defense every night in practice," Fehrenbacher said. "They know they have to play defense to play in our program. Going into double-overtime and only giving up 53 points isn't too bad." Will finished with 12 points, while Mette scored all seven of his points in the overtime periods for the Shoes. Kyle Scheer just missed a double-double with nine points and 14-rebounds for Breese Central, while Timmermann had 14-points and five rebounds. The teams split a pair of close contests during the regular season, but the postseason rubber match proved to be the best of their three meetings by far. "I thought both teams competed at a very high level," Eagleson said. "It's just that they made more plays than we did at the offensive end." "I'm proud of our kids," Fehrenbacher said. "To go two overtimes against the defending state champs was really something. I have so much respect for coach Eagleson, his staff and his program. He's a Hall of Famer — he just went over 600-wins this year — and no words can really describe right now my feeling for our team and what's going on." 1 2 3 4 1OT 2OT - F Breese Central 07 07 14 12 05 08   53 Teutopolis 10 06 12 12 05 13   58 Breese Central (53) – Becker 1 0 0-0 2, Jackson 0 0 0-1 0, Meyer 1 2 8-8 16, Timmermann 3 1 5-8 14, Rickhoff 0 1 0-0 3, Scheer 3 0 3-4 9, Perez 0 3 0-0 9, Harmon 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-8, 3FG-7, FT-16-21, PF-29. Teutopolis (58) – Smith 2 0 11-16 15, Waldhoff 2 0 2-4 6, Will 1 1 7-7 12, Mette 3 0 1-1 7, Hardiek 0 1 0-0 3, Falbe 1 0 2-2 4, Schultz 1 0 0-0 2, Pruemer 1 0 7-11 9. 2FG-11, 3FG-2, FT-30-39, PF-18. Fouled Out – Waldhoff - Teutopolis; Becker, Rickhoff - Breese Central. Technical Fouls – None.