03/04/2025
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARBONDALE - Death, taxes and Teutopolis winning regional championships.

That pretty much sums up what happens each season in the IHSA state tournament.

The Wooden Shoes snagged their 15th consecutive regional championship on Friday night, easing past host Fairfield, 50-49, to advance to the Tolono Unity Sectional on Tuesday night.

Coach Chet Reeder has his club back in the Round of 32 again behind the play of 6-3 senior point guard Alex Kremer and 6-4 senior Drew Hoene.

Hoene (11) and Kremer (nine) led the way in the win over the Mules.

Six-four senior Mick Niebrugge, 5-9 senior Henry Thompson, 5-9 senior Brody Thoele, 6-foot junior Isaac McWhorter, and 6-3 junior Gavin Addis all contributed points in the regional title tilt.

Teutopolis (22-10) plays a difficult independent schedule and it prepares the Shoes to dance in the postseason.

They have played all three of the teams in the sectional and hold a 41-37 win over Monticello, their next opponent on Tuesday night.

They also suffered an early season defeat to Lawrenceville and a January loss to Warrensburg-Latham.

Monticello took out Tolono Unity 53-38 to win the Westville Regional championship on Friday night for head coach Kevin Roy.

The Sages have now copped 24-regional championships and they seek their second sectional title in four seasons having reached the championship game in 2022, losing to Nashville in the title game.

Six-two senior Gatsby Grant is the top of the balanced scoring chart with 11.7 points a contest.

Senior guard Ike Young adds 11.1 p.p.g. Six-foot senior Tyler Blythe, 6-2 junior Nolan Buehnerkemper and 5-7 senior guard Carter Foran round out the lineup that did a defensive number on Tolono Unity in the regional finale.

The Sages held the Rockets scoreless for 9:27 between early in the second half until 5:43 left in the game.

Grant scored 15-points for the Sages and Blythe tossed in 13.

Sophomore reserve Matthias Rudolph added 10-points in the victory.

Lawrenceville has as storied of a history as any in this group but it's been a minute since the Indians claimed a sectional championship.

You have to go back to 1996 to find the last time Lawrenceville advanced to the super-sectional.

The Tribe took home its 35th regional championship on Friday night, besting Paris 57-41 on the Tigers' home floor.

The win makes the won-loss record at 24-7 and they have won 15-of-16 games heading into their semifinal against W-L.

Four different players average double-digits in scoring for head coach Tad Shick, who is in his first season as head coach after a long tenure as an assistant at the program.

Six-two senior Maddox Pargin (11.9), 6-3 junior Noah Wilson (11.5), 5-10 junior Zander Cessna (11.8) and 6-3 junior Jayden Goff (10.4) keep the opposition guessing.

Lawrenceville won the Little Illini Conference tournament championship and they have wins over Teutopolis and Richland County (twice) as their top victories.

Warrensburg-Latham has an impressive resume heading into the sectional.

Head coach Tim Moore's Cardinals have a 29-4 mark after beginning the season with 14-straight triumphs.

The four losses are to Williamsville, Monticello, Pleasant Plains and St. Joseph-Ogden during a bad stretch from December 30th to January 11.

They are currently on another 14-game run, getting revenge against SJ-O, beating the Spartans, 62-56 to win the Macon Meridian Regional.