03/07/2022
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARBONDALE – The Nashville Hornets dominating victory over the Teutopolis Wooden Shoes can be completely explained with one word.

“Defense.”

The Hornets threw up a brick wall on T-Town, statistically and physically superior to anything that the Shoes faced all season long.

Coach Patrick Weathers, in his first season at the helm, has guided the Hornets to their ninth super-sectional championship.

Shutting down Teutopolis on Monday night, the Hornets improved to 28-4 on the season with a 44-18 win.

Teutopolis and head coach Chet Reeder finished their campaign at 27-8.

The Wooden Shoes, after a horrible beginning, never got in the game.

This boy's basketball program, a staple of success in this state, has now lost its last seven super-sectional contests, with the last three of those defeats coming against Nashville.

Six-seven senior Saxton Hoepker led the Hornets with 16-points, 6-of-7 from the foul line, nearly surpassing the total of the Wooden Shoes' entire offensive output.

Kolten Gajewski, a 6-5 senior forward, 5-of-8 from the free throw line, added 13-points for Nashville while senior guard Isaac Turner contributed eight-points.

Nashville hit 14-of-20 from the stripe, and 7-of-11 in the final quarter to close out the victory.

The 'tale of the tape' is a boxing analogy used in adding up figures to determine statistically the outcome of a bout.

This game, had it been an actual boxing match, would have been stopped in the third quarter (round).

Against the length of the Hornets' athletic and defensively oriented squad, Teutopolis were successful very few times on Monday night.

The Wooden Shoes were forced into a 6-of-37 night shooting the ball (16.9 percent) including 0-of-13 from the 3-point line.

In the opening eight minutes, Coach Reeder's Shoes were 0-of-6 from the field and committed six turnovers.

It's not the way you want to begin a super-sectional game and the ending wasn't much different than the start.

Nashville was significantly better, connecting on 14-of-29, just under 50 percent.

The Hornets didn't get off to a great start offensively but they didn't need it to be special.

Gajewski scored on an assist from Turner, which turned into a three-point play.

The senior forward added a pair of free throws before Turner his only 3-pointer from near the top of the circle.

Hoepker's first points came on a backdoor cut to the basket :05 left resulting in a two-handed dunk and a 10-0 lead at the end of the first.

In what turned out to be the only close quarter played between the two squads, T-Town outscored Nashville 7-6 and trailed 16-7 at the half.

Those seven-points came on free throws by junior James Niebrugge (two) and 1-of-2 from senior forward Caleb Siemer.

Siemer and senior guard Dylan Pruemer scored inside for the Shoes while Nashville's points came on baskets in order by Hoepker, Turner and Gajewski as the half ended at 16-7 Hornets.

After going 2-of-9 from the field in the second stanza, Teutopolis ended the first 16-minutes at 2-of-15 with seven turnovers.

Coach Weathers' team put the game away in the third quarter.

Senior guard Nolan Heggemeier scored his five-points on the night with a 3-pointer and a fast break lay in off of a Hoepker blocked shot.

Gajewski added four-points as the Hornets ended the drama as they led 29-8 at the end of the third quarter.

Siemer hit 1-of-2 free throws for the Wooden Shoes' only point of the third quarter as they were 0-of-9 from the field and added five more turnovers.

Teutopolis scored 10-points in the fourth quarter, with Siemer scoring eight of those points with three baskets and a pair of free throws.

Siemer led the Shoes with 12.

But Hoepker padded the Nashville stat sheet with eight-points in the final quarter, including another two-handed dunk on an assist from Turner.

The Hornets will need to be even better on Thursday at the state finals as they will face Chicago DePaul College Prep.

The Rams, who are 26-5, took down top-ranked Chicago Leo at the Joliet Central Super-Sectional 50-43 in overtime.

Teutopolis (18) - B. Niebrugge 0 0 0-0 0, Rofpke 0 0 0-0 0, M. Niebrugge 0 0 0-0 0, Broemer 0 0 0-0 0, Althoff 1 0 0-0 2, Pruemer 1 0 0-0 0, Jo. Niebrugge 0 0 0-0 0, Ja. Niebrugge 0 0 2-2 2, Koester 0 0 0-0 0, Ruholl 0 0 0-0 0, Konkel 0 0 0-0 0, Gaddis 0 0 0-0 0, Siemer 4 0 4-6 12.
2FG-6, 3FG-0, FT-6-8, PF-18.
Nashville (44) – Hammer 0 0 0-0 0, Schoenherr 0 0 0-1 0, Heggemeier 1 1 0-0 5, Cook 0 0 0-0 0, Heiman 0 0 0-0 0, Reinburg 0 0 0-0 0, Schwartzkopf 0 0 0-0 0, Hoepker 5 0 6-7 16, Cameron 0 0 0-0 0, Knepp 0 0 0-0 0, Gajewski 4 0 5-8 13, Turner 2 1 1-2 8, Robinson 0 0 2-2 2.
2FG-12, 3FG-2, FT-14-20, PF-9.
Fouled Out – Ja. Niebrugge - Teutopolis.
Technical Fouls – None.