01-28-06
BY JACK BULLOCK
ALTAMONT - When Neoga head coach Jason Hanson looks on the stat sheet from his game with Teutopolis, when he finds the line where his teams field goal shooting is displayed he will know exactly why his team fell behind and eventually lost the title game of the National Trail Conference tournament.

Making just 3-of-19 shots to open the game, Hanson's club let T-Town get out to an early lead. His team never recovered as the Indians saw their record dip to 16-3 on the season with the 70-52 loss Saturday night at Altamont.

Despite shooting a bit better from the field after that cold stretch, Neoga couldn't cut into the Wooden Shoes lead.

Teutopolis won its 30th NTC tourney title, topping Neoga for the second year in a row in the championship game.

Coach Ken Crawford's club is now 20-2 on the season, showing once again that his program 'rules the roost' known as the National Trail Conference.

"They (T-Town) are a great ballclub and they shot the ball really well against us tonight," said Hanson, whose team had taken the Shoes down to the wire in a 60-54 loss back on December 14. "Unfortunately we didn't shoot very well and it is hard to do that against a good team and still compete."

Teutopolis made its shots to forge an early advantage.

The Ruholl's took care of the first quarter Wooden Shoes offense.

Kyle Ruholl scored seven points and Dustin Ruholl added four in the eight-minute stretch to give T-Town the lead for good.

Kyle's 3-pointer from the top of the arc made it 11-5 with 4:21 before the end of one.

Neoga's Zach Braden tried to keep his Indians in the contest, scoring a game-high 24-points. His second score of the game on a drive to the basket closed the first quarter at 11-7 Teutopolis.

However points from the Indians were few and far between in the early part of the game.

This dry spell, caused in part by solid T-Town 'D', allowed coach Crawford's team to gradually pull away.

"Tonight we shot the ball very well and we started the game defensively well also," said T-Town coach Ken Crawford. "We held them down early but (Zach) Braden took over for them. He is a heck of a player."

Missing their first four shots in the second period, Neoga and coach Hanson watched Teutopolis go on a 9-0 run that culminated in a 14-2 scoring binge.

Jason Runde helped the run with a pair of baskets.

His fast break lay in with 6:15 left prompted a Hanson timeout at 18-7 T-Town.

Another Dustin Ruholl bucket and a 3-pointer by Matt Crawford kept things rolling in favor of the 'Shoes.

A pair of free throws by Kyle Ruholl made the lead it's largest of the first half at 25-9.

The Indians got going towards the end of the second quarter to cut the Teutopolis lead down to eleven at the break.

Braden, David Massengill and Alex Walk all hit shots in the final 3:50 of the half for Neoga to help keep the fire burning for a potential second half comeback.

Massengill, who had 12-points on the night, hit a midrange jumper from the left wing to finish the first half scoring at 30-19 T-Town.

Neoga traded baskets with the Shoes to open the third quarter but could never get the deficit under ten points.

Another Massengill score with 4:46 to go on a rebound stick back made it 37-27.

But Teutopolis outscored the Indians 15-9 the remainder of the quarter to gradually pull away.

Three-pointers by Kyle Ruholl and Lee Zerrusen and seven straight points by Runde made it 52-33 Teutopolis.

Braden closed the third quarter with a 3-pointer from the right wing that rattled home just before the buzzer, leaving Neoga much work to do heading into the final quarter.

Teutopolis reserve Craig Westendorf stepped in to give coach Crawford some good minutes in the final quarter.

The 6-foot-4 junior scored on a conventional three-point play and he picked up a nice assist as his pass found Runde on a back-door cut for a lay in and a 57-39 lead.

"We talked at halftime that they (Neoga) would come out after us in the second half and I told them that they would get some back door opportunities and be able to drive to the basket. We took advantage of that tonight and I am proud of our effort."

Free throw shooting, as Neoga was forced to foul, took care of the bulk of the scoring in the final quarter.

Teutopolis hit on 10-of-14 in the final 6:02 and were 16-of-21 for the contest.

After two free throws by Matt Crawford gave the 'Shoes their largest lead at 68-46 with 1:17 left, T-Town emptied its bench with the NTC title secure and ready for the trophy case to join the other 29.

"We were disappointed but the kids played hard and gave a lot of effort," added Hanson. "I am proud of them for that. I was disappointed with our defense tonight, not because of our effort but because of our breakdowns and that is something that we are going to have to work on in practice."

K. Ruholl and Runde shared scoring honors for T-Town with 18-points apiece while Crawford added 12.

The 'Shoes stepped lively from the field, hitting 24-of-46 overall, and a deadly 18-of-31 (58 percent) from inside the arc.
Neoga matched those 18 two-pointers but it took them 13 additional attempts to do so, finishing 18-of-44 and 21-of-51 overall (41 percent) in dropping just its third game of the season.

Teutopolis held a 27-23 rebounding edge and the game was cleanly played with just seven turnovers for each squad.

"Neoga has a nice team and I am pleased to come away with a win like this tonight," added Crawford. "I felt we played within ourselves in the first half except for the first four minutes we took some quick shots. When we got back into our offense we did a better job scoring. I thought defensively we played very well although we gave up more points than I would have liked," Crawford added. "Our scoring has been balanced this year. They are just fun kids to be around."

Teutopolis is 64-11 in the National Trail Conference tournament in Coach Ken Crawford's 25 seasons.

Neoga (52) - Braden 7 2 4-6 24, Massengill 6 0 0-0 12, Walk 2 1 2-2 9, E. Walk 2 0 0-0 4, Zumbahlen 1 0 0-0 2, Letizia 0 0 1-2 1, Hoene 0 0 0-0 0, Ewing 0 0 0-0 0, Ballinger 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-18, 3FG- 3, FT-7-10, PF-17
Teutopolis (70) - K. Ruholl 5 2 2-2 18, Runde 5 1 5-5 18, Crawford 2 1 5-6 12, Zerrusen 1 1 2-4 7, D. Ruholl 3 0 0-0 6, Koester 0 1 1-2 4, Westendorf 1 0 1-2 3, Pals 1 0 0-0 2,
Borries 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-18, 3FG-3, FT-16-21, PF-12.