The Teutopolis Wooden Shoes dominated the glass and held the Pinckneyville Panthers to just 12-of-32 from the floor in a 53-39 win on Dick Corn Court to move to 2-0 in the Pinckneyville Tournament.

Coach Andy Fehrenbachers club ruled the rebounding stat sheet, out-boarding the Panthers 29-13 to improve to 9-2 overall for 2011-12 while moving a step closer to a title game appearance.

“It is a proven stat that a team that gets 60 percent of the rebounds will win 90 percent of the games,” said Pinckneyville mentor Bob Waggoner. “And they got well more than 60 percent so they are going to beat you. Our kids battled and we are a bit out-manned by them (Teutopolis) but then again we had some turnovers. I thought we did a good job getting the tempo (slower) like we wanted but we just didn't execute offensively.”

Jarred Waldhoff topped the Wooden Shoes' offensive output with 13-points while teammate Derek Smith added 11.

Kyle Pruemer overcame some early foul trouble and added nine points while senior guard and team-leader Mark Niebrugge added seven points and a team-leading eight rebounds.

The Shoes were so dominating on the glass that Pinckneyville managed to corral just four offensive rebounds in 32 minutes.

“Defense and rebounding, it is something that we work on everyday at practice and we hang our hats on it,” said Coach Fehrenbacher. “That is something that we talked about before we took the floor tonight. We have to win the battle of the boards. Our guys did a very nice job.”

Payton Nippe topped the Panthers' attack with 13-points while Hunter Queen chipped in 10.

But the real story of this contest was Teutopolis' defensive effort, especially in the second quarter where they outscored the Panthers 15-3 in turning a one-points deficit into an 11-point lead at intermission.

T-Town sent the Panthers to the foul line early in the game, allowing Pinckneyville to score 9-of-13 points from the charity stripe in the opening quarter.

Queen cashed in eight of those tosses, six of which came as a result of being fouled twice while attempting 3-point shots.

This Panther guard was fouled shooting a trey by Waldhoff with just over two minutes gone in the quarter and then Devin Falbe knocked him to the floor with just :04.7 left in the quarter.

Queen nailed all eight of his tosses in the frame and those final three put the Panthers in charge at 13-12 at the end of one.

But after that sluggish first quarter the Wooden Shoes turned it up a notch.

Teutopolis opened the second quarter with an 11-0 scoring march.

Derek Smith scored nine of his points in that second quarter and his drive to the basket in the first minute gave T-Town back the lead for good.

His trifecta from the left wing with 4:52 to go pushed the lead to 20-13.

Teutopolis, after parading the Panthers to the foul line in the opening quarter, got to the stripe themselves in the second quarter and made 6-of-8. Smith was 5-of-7 from the line in that run.

Center Jon Mette muscled in for a basket with :42 left before the half to close the scoring at 27-16.

Teutopolis turned up the defense in the second quarter as they forced the Panthers into shooting just 1-of-9 from the field.

Coach Fehrenbacher's club opened the second half with an 8-2 run with a pair of 3-pointers by Niebrugge and Pruemer.

Niebrugge came around a screen at the top of the arc on a set play and buried a trey for a quick score and Pruemer, a 6-foot-5 junior center, showed some range as he canned a 3-point bomb from the right corner on an assist from Niebrugge.

His made 20-footer pushed the lead to 34-18 with 5:22 remaining.

The Panthers, to their credit, didn't fold up the tents.

A 9-0 run to close out the quarter got the Panthers back in the contest.

Nippe scored twice in the run on drives to the basket.

His move down the left baseline for a lay in with :05 left cut the margin to just 35-27 heading to the final quarter.

However Teutopolis put the game away by opening the fourth quarter with a quick scoring burst.

Lee Deters and Smith both hit a pair of free throws and Waldhoff hit a driving lay in on a nice pass from Mette.

A Niebrugge fast break score and a 3-pointer by Waldhoff gave T-Town its biggest lead at 48-30 with 3:33 remaining.

“That (responding to Pinckneyville's run) shows the maturity of our team. At Thanksgiving time we would have made a couple of turnovers and that would have snowballed. But just in a month's time we have got guys that understand what the game plan is. Understanding clock management in the second half and when and when not to try and score.”

Pinckneyville hit three 3-pointers late in the quarter to make the final score a bit more close.

T-Town hit six 3-pointers in the contest and overall hit 16-of-34 shots.

“That is a big key (rebounding) when you play a team like that (Pinckneyville) that when they aren't shooting well you don't give them second and third opportunities,” added Coach Fehrenbacher. “We did a nice job contesting shots and closing out.”

With a win over Red Bud on Wednesday afternoon at 1 pm, Teutopolis will play for the Duster Thomas title on Wednesday night at 8:30 pm.

Pinckneyville returns to action at 10:00 am against Steeleville.

DQ put four players in double-figures and overcame a tough start to pull away in the final three quarters.

John Galik scored 16-points for Du Quoin while Cayle Diggins added 15. Brenden Fred and Brandon Williams added 11 points each in the triumph.

Lawrenceville (0-2) was paced by Cole Hule with 10-points.