01-31-12
BY JACK BULLOCK
ST. ELMO – The Teutopolis Wooden Shoes had an off night offensively on Tuesday night on the road at St. Elmo in a National Trail Conference game.

That sort of thing will happen, even for powerhouse programs like the Wooden Shoes.

But the two things that this program was built on over the years carried them to a 58-41 victory on the road in their final game against the Eagles.

Defense and rebounding.

Coach Andy Fehrenbacher's team forced the Eagles into 15 turnovers and an 18-of-45 shooting night.

The 'Shoes dominated the glass, out boarding the hosts 38-17 while allowing just four offensive rebounds by the hosts.

Senior point guard and team leader Mark Niebrugge led all point producers with 19-points as Teutopolis improved to 20-2 on the season and 7-0 in the NTC with the road triumph.

After spotting St. Elmo and early lead, Coach Fehrenbacher's team pulled away in the final three quarter.

“That is why we put such an emphasis on those two aspects of the game (defense and rebounding) because we had an off night offensively,” said Coach Fehrenbacher. “Them getting into foul trouble with Beasley having to go to the bench was big. He is a big cog in what they do.”

T-Town finished just 20-of-49 themselves from the field, missing numerous in close shots.

But crashing the boards for 17-offensive rebounds made up for a lot of those bricks.

When the dust had settled, the Wooden Shoes had their second win over St. Elmo in the last six days as Coach Greg Feezel's Eagles saw their overall mark slip to 16-6 and 5-2 in the NTC.

“We had a lull in the first half (second quarter) when we make a run we have to sustain it, and we didn't sustain what we wanted to do,” said Coach Feezel. “We just did not play as well as we can. This team is better than that. And I know that some of that has to do with their defense but we missed at least eight lay ups.”

Derek Smith chipped in 12-points for Teutopolis while teammate Kyle Pruemer added 10.

Saddled with foul trouble, St. Elmo's Conner Beasley finished with just 10-points as he shared scoring honors on the squad with Jake Mansker who also finished with ten.

St. Elmo began the game by hitting 7-of-11 attempts in the first quarter and led 15-13 at the first horn.

Ben Sperry and Beasley each scored on drives to the basket in the early going and Mansker added a mid-range shot for a 6-3 lead.

Senior forward Blake Pruett drove the lane and was fouled by Zackk Schultz, resulting in a conventional three point play.

Beasley and Mansker each scored again to close the quarter with the Eagles up by two.

However after the fast start offensively, St. Elmo cooled off. Or in this case, Teutopolis' defense stepped up to help contribute to the Eagles offensive woes.

The Eagles missed their first seven field goal attempts in the second quarter and the Wooden Shoes took advantage.

An 8-0 run to begin the frame erased the T-Town deficit.

A 3-pointer from Jared Waldhoff and a pair of buckets in close by Pruemer pushed the Wooden Shoes out to a 21-15 lead.

St. Elmo didn't hit its first shot of the stanza until the 1:59 mark when Patrick Schaal hit his only shot of the contest, a 3-pointer from the left corner.

The Eagles did manage to stay within striking range as Teutopolis also struggled from the field in the second quarter, making just 4-of-11 attempts.

Reserve guard Levi Maxey, while St. Elmo was holding the ball for the final shot of the half, drained a 3-pointer from just to the left of the top of the circle before the horn to make it 24-21 Teutopolis at the break.

“You just felt like Maxey (Levi) went up for that shot right before the half that they way things were going for us, it was going to go in,” added Coach Fehrenbacher. “It was just the way that the entire first half went.”

The best offensive spurt by either team in the contest came from the visitors to begin the second half.

T-Town opened up the third quarter with a 12-2 run, or more appropriate, a jog.

It took nearly five minutes to produce those dozen points, but defensively speaking, the Shoes were in shutdown mode.

Pruemer scored twice in the surge, on a lob pass from Waldhoff and when Niebrugge got a pass from Waldhoff after a turnover that resulted in a fast break lay in, Teutopolis was in charge.

A free throw by Smith closed the run at 36-23 with 3:10 remaining in the third frame.

Mansker, a 5-foot-9 senior guard, scored twice more for St. Elmo as the Eagles briefly closed the gap.

The Eagles were within striking distance at 38-29 heading into the fourth quarter.

Teutopolis put the game to rest with a 13-2 run in the final quarter.

Trailing just 45-35 with just under five minutes remaining, the Eagles saw T-Town close out the game with Jon Mette and Pruemer each scoring from close range.

Both of those buckets came on offensive rebounds.

The Wooden Shoes shut the door by hitting 5-of-6 free throws and another score by Mette on a lay in sealed the win.

Reserves finished out the game as Teutopolis walked away with a victory in its final trip to St. Elmo in the Wooden Shoes last season in the National Trail Conference draws to a close.

While Coach Fehrenbacher wasn't please with how his offense worked on Tuesday night, the staple of the program at the other end of the floor made up for the shortcomings.

“I'm proud of our kids effort physically but I'm a little disappointed in them mentally,” Fehrenbacher added. “I felt like we had a little bit of a let down after winning the NTC Tournament on Saturday.”

Teutopolis will head back to action on Friday night with a home game against Stewardson-Strasburg and a road battle against Harrisburg at the Benton Shootout on Saturday.

St. Elmo will host Brownstown on Friday night in a NTC/EIC matchup.

“We will be alright. We will come back tomorrow and start working,” finalized Coach Feezel. “We've got to have more intensity. I just wish we would have played better.”

Teutopolis (58) – Falbe 0 0 0-0 0, Niebrugge 3 3 4-5 19, Waldhoff 1 2 0-0 8, Deters 1 0 0-0 2, Smith 3 0 6-10 12, Hardiek 0 0 0-0 0, Repking 0 0 0-0 0, Mette 2 0 3-6 7, Z. Schultz 0 0 0-0 0, Pruemer 5 0 0-0 10.
2FG-15, 3FG-5, FT-13-21, PF-9.
St. Elmo (41) – Bartels 1 0 0-0 2, Beasley 5 0 0-0 10, Sperry 2 0 2-2 6, Schaal 0 1 0-0 3, Maxey 0 1 0-0 3, Pruett 3 0 1-1 7, Magnus 0 0 0-0 0, Scholes 0 0 0-0 0, Mansker 5 0 0-0 10, Denton 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-16, 3FG-2, FT-3-4, PF-16.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.