NATIONAL TRAIL CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT
St. Anthony rolls early in Windsor win
Schuette tops Bulldogs' cause with 26-points; Neoga, South Central also triumph

01-21-13
BY JACK BULLOCK
ALTAMONT
The Effingham St. Anthony Bulldogs have struggled this season with just four wins heading into Monday night's opening round game of the National Trail Conference Tournament.

But Coach Mark Tovey's club rose to the occasion, taking care of Windsor to advance from the play-in round with a convincing 69-44 win.

The Bulldogs got off to a rousing start, scoring the game's first 18-points and were never headed against the Blue Devils in the final of three opening round contests as the 78th annual event at Altamont.

St. Anthony improved its mark to 5-13 on the season as Jacob Schuette, a 6-foot-3 senior guard, netted 26-points for the Bulldogs.

Junior guard Neil Williams added 12-points while 6-foot-5 junior Alex Hoelscher chipped in 10-points for the Bulldogs as eight different players scored for St. A in the route.

After having started poorly Coach Silas Pogue's Windsor crew didn't fold the tents up.

Windsor played virtually even with the winners after the horrendous beginning.

“We came out tonight and got some looks at the basket. Their size may have intimidated us slightly but we have to be able to handle their defensive pressure. Give them (St. Anthony) credit. They came out tonight and did a good job defensively,” said Coach Pogue. “All excuses aside, they came out and wanted to control the tempo and they did.”

Schuette got the Bulldogs going early, scoring 10 of his points in the first quarter as St. Anthony sprinted out to a quick double-digit advantage.

“He (Schuette) is getting better on shot selection, knowing when to shoot and when not to shoot,” added Coach Tovey. “We have worked with him about getting his teammates involved more. Working on getting assists.”

Windsor had too many costly mistakes in the first q uarter, beginning the contest with six consecutive missed field goal attempts and three turnovers in nine possessions.

St. Anthony turned those Blue Devil mistakes into an 18-0 run.

Windsor's bright spot on the night was freshman guard Tristan Warner, a 6-foot guard, who netted 17-points for Coach Pogue's squad.

He scored seven of his points in the second quarter. After trailing 22-5 at the end of the first frame, Windsor played even with the Bulldogs the rest of the half.

His 3-pointer from the right wing with 2:20 left, cut the lead down to 36-19.

“Getting off to a good start was good for us but we kind of let up in the second quarter,” said Coach Tovey. “They equaled us in scoring in the second quarter and one of the things that we try to do is win every quarter. Give them (Windsor) credit. They came out and hit some shots.”

However the Devils scoring issues were attributed to a 6-of-19 performance from the floor in the first half and eight of their 15-turnovers.

St. Anthony led 40-23 at the break.

A 12-0 run to start the second half by the Bulldogs ended the suspense with Schuette scoring twice in transition and teammates Alex Hoelscher, Jason Vogel, Neil Williams and Charlie Schultz all scoring in the sprint.

Schultz's runner in the lane with 5:24 remaining in the third quarter closed the run and the book on the contest at 52-23 Bulldogs.

St. Anthony shot the ball very well on the night, hitting 32-of-59 overall (54.2 percent) and they did all of their scoring damage inside the arc as they missed all three of their 3-point attempts against Windsor.

The Blue Devils, on the other hand, were 14-of-42 overall (33.3 percent) and were outrebounded by the Bulldogs 32-15.

No other Windsor player scored double-figures in the game.

Following Warner on the list was Hayden Cole with nine points and Trey Leasher with six.

St. Anthony advanced to the championship round from its play-in game win and will take on Stewardson-Strasburg on Wednesday night at 8 pm.

The Comets, the number three seed, were soundly beaten by St. Anthony last Friday night 60-45.

Windsor will face Beecher City on Wednesday night at 5 pm.

1
2
3
4
-
F
Windsor
05
18
11
10
-
44
Effingham St. Anthony
22
18
21
08
-
69

Windsor (44) – Smith 1 0 0-0 2, Allen 1 0 1-4 3, Haddock 0 1 0-0 3, Cole 2 0 5-5 9, Warner 2 4 1-2 19, Pendro 0 0 0-1 0, Leagher 0 1 3-4 6, J. Smith 1 0 0-0 2, Blackburn 0 0 0-0 0, White 0 0 0-0 0, Tilford 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-8, 3FG-6, FT-10-16, PF-7.
Effingham St. Anthony (69) – Williams 6 0 0-0 12, Z. Gardewine 1 0 0-0 2, Greene 0 0 0-0 0, Schuette 13 0 0-0 26, Gibson 0 0 0-0 0, Schultz 2 0 3-4 7, Martelli 2 0 0-0 4, Rogers 0 0 0-0 0, A. Gardewine 2 0 0-2 4, Hoelscher 4 0 2-2 10, Niebruegge 0 0 0-0 0, Vogel 2 0 0-0 4, Rios 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-32, 3FG-0, FT-5-8, PF-9.

Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.

SOUTH CENTRAL 60, BROWNSTOWN 47
The Cougars made their first ever contest in the National Trail Conference a memorable one with an upset win over the Bombers to advance to the championship round.

Coach Rick Simmons got 26-points from senior guard Rudy Hablewitz and 12-points from Fischer Tharp in the victory as the 10th seeded Cougars will now face number two seed Altamont on Wednesday night.

South Central, after having spent 22-years in the Midland Trail Conference since its consolidation back in 1989-90, moved to the NTC this season and are now in the running for a championship.

The Bombers were led by 17-points from Austin Hunter in the loss.

The Cougars pulled away from Brownstown in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Bombers 20-10.

Senior Austin Schwarm added 10-points for SC (5-13) and Joel Rose and Gavin Ratermann each added five important points.

Schwarm and Rose each hit a pair of free throws in the fourth quarter as South Central handed the Bombers their tenth loss of the season (8-10).

1
2
3
4
-
F
South Central
13
13
14
20
-
60
Brownstown
15
10
12
10
-
47

South Central (60) – Harmeier 0 0 2-4 2, Hablewitz 10 0 6-12. Tharp 5 0 2-4 12, Retermann 1 1 0-0 5, Rose 1 0 3-4 5, Schwarm 3 0 4-4 10, Powless 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-20, 3FG-1, FT-17-28, PF-11.

Brownstown (47) – Mathews 0 0 0-0 0, M. Sefton 1 1 2-2 7, Hunter 5 1 4-6 17, Behrends 1 2 2-2 7, Lawson 0 0 0-0 0, Frailey 4 0 1-4 8, Oberlink 1 0 2-2 4..
2FG-12, 3FG-4, FT-11-16, PF-24.

Fouled Out – Hunter, Behrends - Brownstown.
Technical Fouls – None

NEOGA 49, BEECHER CITY 41
After a tough start to the season, the Indians are on the warpath having won five-consecutive games.

Coach Clay Haurberg has his club playing well as they held off a Beecher City rally to advance to play top-seed Dieterich on Tuesday night at the NTC.

Jake Baker, a 6-foot-1 junior, had a big game for the Tribe as he netted 26-points. The irony of the total is that in all three contests on Monday night, the top individual scorer in each of the three games netted 26.

Five-foot-nine junior guard Will Krikie added nine points for Neoga (8-12).

Beecher City was led by senior forward Donovan Riley with 17-points (three 3-pointers) while senior Doug Krueger added 15.

The Eagles rallied for a 34-33 lead heading into the final quarter before Neoga outscored BC, 16-7 to win.

1
2
3
4
-
F
Beecher City
07
07
20
07
-
41
Neoga
12
12
09
16
-
49

Beecher City (41) – Gardner 0 0 0-0 0, McKay 1 0 0-0 2, Doty 0 0 0-2 0, Bales 0 0 0-0 0, Riley 3 3 2-3 17, Krueger 5 1 2-4 15, Barnes 23 0 1-2 7.
2FG-12, 3FG-4, FT-5-11, PF-14.

Neoga (49) – Maroon 1 0 0-0 2, Atwell 1 0 0-0 2, Krikie 3 1 0-1 9, Moore 1 0 0-0 2, J. Baker 4 4 6-6 26, Walk 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-13, 3FG-5, FT-8-9, PF-10

Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.