02-01-14
BY JACK BULLOCK
ALTAMONT – The Altamont Indians won their first National Trail Conference Tournament championship since 1990 on Saturday night.

But for head coach John Niebrugge, the 49-38 win sparked some fond memories.

With Niebrugge playing guard and leading the way for Teutopolis, the Wooden Shoes won this tournament championship in 1998.

For Altamont on Saturday night in its win over Effingham St. Anthony, the Indians also had a guard that shined in leading his team to victory.

Six-foot senior lefty Garrett Ziegler scored 16-points and hit all six of his free throw attempts, five in the fourth quarter, as the Tribe improved to 17-2 on the season with the win in front of a packed house at Altamont.

Justin McGinnis and Kaliton Wolff added eight points each in the win.

“He is our leader, he is our ‘man’ out there. I told him with about 1:30 to go, you have to want the ball right now and he stepped up and when he went to the (foul) line he made them,” said Coach Niebrugge about Garret Ziegler. “There isn’t much else I can say about him. He willed our team to the win tonight.”

However it was the defensive end of the floor that painted the championship portrait on this night for the champs.

Altamont forced St. Anthony into 18-turnovers, six in the opening moments of the game as Coach Niebrugge’s club blanketed the Bulldogs and kept their offense at bay.

By the time that St. Anthony got to the second half, the defensive pressure had wore down Coach Cody Rincker’s squad.

Altamont pulled away in the fourth quarter for the big win in a tournament championship that eluded them last winter.

After being runner-up to Dieterich in 2013, the nets were cut down for the Indians on their home floor.

“We contested every shot. Our job (on defense) is not to let them run an offense. Take them out of what they want to do. We want to make them do something that they are not comfortable doing,” added Coach Niebrugge.

As for the Bulldogs senior guard Neil Williams scored 14-points in the loss as his team fell to 14-6 on the season.

St. A also received six points each from Derek Rios and John Goeckner.

The Bulldogs, thanks to the defensive effort from Altamont, hit just 16-of-55 shots on the night (29 percent) while managing just 4-of-16 from beyond the 3-point line.

Although the first quarter found more mistakes than successes for the teams in the title tilt, the writing was on the wall for the Bulldogs.

Six early turnovers, even though the Indians didn’t capitalize on the St. A mistakes, set the tone of the contest.

Cole Borders, a 6-foot-2 senior forward, scored the game’s first five points for Altamont on a drive down the baseline and a 3-pointer from the left wing for a 5-0 start.

Williams countered for the Bulldogs with a trey and a mid-range jumper. Those four scores put the game at five-all at the end of a points-challenged opening eight minutes.

St. Anthony had two brief leads in the second quarter with Williams hitting yet another 3-pointer while Goeckner, a 6-foot-2 senior, muscled in for a basket in the paint for a 12-10 Bulldog lead with 5:45 to go before the break.

By this time Ziegler had seen enough.

Three consecutive scores by the all-tournament team selection, put Altamont back in the lead for good.

His 3-pointer from the left corner put the Indians on top 17-14.

Two free throws by Altamont’s Derek Jahraus and another trey from Williams got the teams to halftime at 19-17 Tribe.

The Indians catapulted out of the locker room and began the third quarter a separation run.

Two scores by Seidel, another long range bomb by Ziegler and a rebound basket by Wolff was the close of a 9-2 run for a 28-19 lead.

St. Anthony made one brief run at the hosts, scoring four-straight points to close the third quarter.

Baskets by Goeckner and 6-foot-3 junior forward Zach Gardewine got St. Anthony within five at 30-25.

The championship sprint for Altamont came at the beginning of the fourth.

Nine consecutive points gave the Indians the lead that they craved.

Two free throws by Ziegler, five points from Wolff on a 3-pointer on an inbounds play and a score in the lane got the run going.

Seidel added a bucket for a 39-25 spread with 5:21 left.

The Indians could have done a better job of salting away the victory had they punished the Bulldogs from the foul line.

Altamont missed four straight from the line during a :48 stretch, leaving the door slightly ajar.

A 3-pointer from Williams, his last points of the night before fouling out, got St. A within nine at 44-35.

But at this point, Ziegler, Jahraus and Borders secured the win by hitting 5-of-6 from the charity stripe to wrap up its sixth title since the tournament began back in 1935 with back-to-back championships won by Altamont.

“We kind of changed it up from the last time we played them (a 64-52 St. Anthony win at the Vandalia Holiday Tournament on December 28). We were more of a ‘gambling, trapping, half court’ style that night. We went more contained this time,” said Coach Niebrugge. “We still pressured but we did a great job of adjusting. Our pressure was the different in the game.”

St. Anthony managed to win the glass battle 27-21 with 12 of those being offensive rebounds.

Unfortunately that coincides with missing so many shots (29) on the night.

Coach Rincker’s team failed to turn Altamont over enough (nine) in the game to create enough transition points.

“We had opportunities, it was just us not making them (shot) and I give Altamont credit because they pressured our wings and didn’t let us get into our sets,” said Coach Rincker. “That was the difference in the first half. We still hung tough and we held it to just a 19-17 game at the half. That (grind it out) is how we have to play. We’re not going to be able to score 75-80 points a game.”

Altamont (49) – Jackman 0 0 0-0 0, McGinnis 2 0 4-5 8, Ziegler 2 2 6-6 16, Borders 1 1 2-4 7, Goeckner 0 0 0-0 0, Armstrong 1 0 0-0 2, Seidel 3 0 0-3 6, Jahraus 0 0 2-2 2, Wolff 2 1 1-2 8.
2FG-11, 3FG-4, FT-15-22, PF-13.
Effingham St. Anthony (38) – Williams 2 3 1-1 14, Jansen 0 1 0-0 3, Gibson 0 0 0-0 0, Greene 0 0 0-0 0, A. Gardewine 1 0 1-2 3, Hoelscher 2 0 0-0 4, Z. Gardewine 1 0 0-0 2, Goeckner 3 0 0-0 6, Rios 3 0 0-1 6, Harke 0 0 0-0 0 .
2FG-12, 3FG-4, FT-2-4, PF-21.
Fouled Out – Williams - Effingham St. Anthony.
Technical Fouls – None.

DIETERICH 58, NEOGA 41
The Movin Maroons won the third place game over the Indians behind 14-points from Alex Bohnhoff and 13-points from Travis Niemerg as Dieterich rolled to a 24-17 lead at halftime and coasted home for the win.

Neoga was paced by 24-points from senior Jake Baker in the loss.

Malachi Maxey added 12-points while 10-points came from freshman Landon Feezel added 10.

Beecher City (37) – Gardner 0 2 0-0 6, Giles 0 1 0-0 3, Doty 2 0 1-2 5, Bales 2 0 0- 4, Lagerhausen 1 0 4-5 6, Rexroad 3 0 2-2 8, Kenter 0 1 1-4 4, Kemme 0 0 0-0 0, Shelton 0 0 1-2 1, Gasperini 0 0 0-0 0, Rendell 0 0 0-2 0.
2FG-8, 3FG-4, FT-9-19, PF-17.
St. Elmo-Brownstown (63) – Neeley 0 0 0-0 0, Miller 1 0 0-0 2, M. Maxey 3 1 3-3 12, Bauer 0 0 0-0 0, Frailey 0 0 0-0 0, L. Maxey 6 2 3-6 21, Behrends 2 1 1-2 8, Noll 0 0 0-0 0, Flowers 0 0 0-0 0, Smithson 2 1 0-0 7, Feezel 2 2 0-0 10, Pasley 0 0 0-0 0, Austin 0 0 0-0 0, Hardimon 1 0 1-2 3.
2FG-17, 3FG-7, FT-8-13, PF-16.
Fouled Out – Behrends - St. Elmo-Brownstown.
Technical Fouls – None.

Cowden-Herrick was led by Colton Burrus with 18-points.

South Central (61) – Harmeier 0 3 1-2 10, Henken 0 0 0-0 0, Markley 1 1 4-6 9, Langley 8 0 7-12 23, Riley 2 0 0-0 4, Ross 2 0 2-3 6, Powliss 2 0 5-7 9.
2FG-15, 3FG-4, FT-19-30, PF-13.
Cowden-Herrick (48) – Blackerby 1 0 1-2 3, Sphar 4 0 2-2 10, Lorton 1 0 0-0 2, Burrus 6 1 3-4 18, Sandiford 1 0 0-2 2, Nohren 0 0 0-0 0, Barnes 1 0 0-0 2, Evans 3 1 2-2 11.
2FG-17, 3FG-2, FT-8-12, PF-22.
Fouled Out – Sphar, Barnes - Cowden-Herrick.
Technical Fouls – None.