The Effingham St. Anthony Bulldogs took no prisoners with two impressive wins and Coach Cody Rincker and his club are now 2-0 in Pool A and 11-1 overall.

In the finale on Monday night, St. A got 19-points from senior Drew Gibson, 18-points from junior Alex Deters and a staunch defensive effort which forced the host Vandals into a horrific shooting performance.

St. Anthony blanketed Vandalia and forced a 10-of-41 shooting night in the victory.

Nine-different Bulldogs scored in the triumph with junior Jack Nuxoll adding nine-markers and junior Adam Levitt hitting for eight.

Alex Beesley, a 6-foot-4 junior, tossed in seven-points off the bench for Coach Rincker.

“This speaks of our willingness to be disciplined, to listen to what the game plan is and be ready to play,” said Coach Rincker. “It (2-0) is where we wanted to be at this point. We have to be ready to go tomorrow against Pana. They are a quality, experienced athletic team and it ought to be a good one.”

On the other side of the ledger, Vandalia struggled in all phases, as they slipped to 0-2 in Pool A and 8-5 overall after dropping both games on Monday.

Coach Brian Buscher's club committed 16-turnovers to go along with the 24.3 percent shooting.

Senior guard Richie Well topped both squads with 20-points while Nathan Casey added 11.

This pair was the only real bright spot in a dismal evening.

Vandalia hung close to the Bulldogs in the early going but things got worse at the end of the first quarter for the host team.

Trailing 8-7 early, Coach Rincker saw his crew go on a 9-0 run.

Gibson got the run going with a pair of scores; a transition bucket and a 3-pointer off of a drive to the basket and subsequent assist from junior guard Cade Walsh.

A drive in the lane for a score from Deters and a fast break bucket off a Vandalia miscue gave the Bulldogs a 16-8 spread.

Well answered for Vandalia with a baseline drive and two free throws by Casey ended the quarter with the Vandals down just four.

An 8-1 sprint to begin the second quarter pushed the St. Anthony lead to double-figures for the first time.

Two 3-pointers by Deters and Beesley made it 24-13 with 5:22 before the half.

Four points from Well on a pair of free throws and a transition score on an assist from Marcus Zimmerman cut into the Bulldogs' lead.

However St. Anthony strengthened its control of the contest with another scoring run before the half.

An 11-1 crusade with Gibson scoring a pair of baskets and sophomore Luke Ludwig adding a bucket gave the Dawgs a 39-24 lead at intermission.

“Our defense and rebounding picked up after being sluggish in the first quarter. We gave them some early second chance points but once we kind of cleared that up we got some breathing room,” said Coach Rincker. “And rebounding is part of anybody's game if you are going to get a big win. We aren't the most physical team or the biggest, but we have some guys that know how to use their bodies to get the right angle to get rebounds. The offensive put-backs were huge for us.”

Things got much worse for Vandalia in the third quarter as Effingham St. Anthony pulled away.

Leading 47-31 with 5:29 left in the stanza, St. A again went on a scoring march.

Gibson and Nuxoll took turns nailing the coffin shut.

The two each added five-points as both scored in the lane while being fouled and both drove to the goal for points.

Gibson closed the third quarter scoring by grabbing a Nuxoll miss in the paint and his stick back ended the quarter and the run.

The scoring run was 15-2 as the lead ballooned to 62-33.

“We talked to them about one possession at a time, both defensively and offensively. But we tried to do some things that we can't do. There is no 15-point shot, it is just one possession at a time,” said Coach Buscher. “We tried to do too much and it backfired.”

Vandalia committed 10 of their 16 turnovers in the third quarter and hit just 3-of-9 shots during the Bulldogs hot streak.

“I really thought as a whole we didn't play really bad in the first half, we had some open looks but we weren't hitting the shots,” said Coach Buscher. “The second half didn't start out well, we turned the ball over. We would make a stop and get a rebound but then we would turn it back over to them. It just snowballed from there.”

A basket by Nuxoll just seconds into the final quarter gave the Bulldogs a 31-point lead and continuous clock mercy rule took effect.

“We didn't expect this (continuous clock) to be honest with you. Vandalia has put together some nice wins. They have some good athletes and good shooters. It just took a little bit to get going,” said Coach Rincker. “Once we got in a rhythm and knocked down some shots we were able to extend it a little bit.”

The Bulldogs finished 30-of-55 overall (54.5 percent) from the field and took care of the ball with just eight turnovers.

St. Anthony will tackle Pana at 5 pm on Tuesday in a battle of 2-0 teams in Pool A.

Coach Adam Metzger saw his club struggle early against Ramsey but they turned in on with a quick 18-1 run to close out the first quarter.

Eleven different Pana players inked the book as they forced a continuous clock in the fourth quarter.

Senior Kyle Lynch, as he had done in the morning win over the hosts, topped the Panthers' attack with 12-points while seniors Brock DeWerff and Michael Hrabek chipped in 10-points each.

Nick McMillen added eight-points and Adam Miller chipped in seven in the lopsided win as the Panthers cruised to a 42-18 bulge at halftime.

Getting the ball inside was a key for Pana, as they hit 27-of-49 (55.1 percent) inside the arc.

The Rams (2-10) hit just 5-of-34 overall (14 percent) in the loss.

Kolten Aderman led Ramsey with nine-points in the loss while Brady Black and Jalen Roberts added five-each.

Ramsey ended up with 26-turnovers in the game while Pana also had turnover problems with 17.

In a game that featured 37-combined turnovers, Coach Adam Metzger's club survived to go 1-0 in Pool A.

Six-foot-three senior Kyle Lynch led the scoring attack with 16-points while Adam Miller and Brock DeWerff tossed in 10-points each.

Vandalia (8-4) was topped in scoring by junior forward Nathan Casey with 16-points.

Richie Well and Marcus Zimmerman added 10-points each as both teams' top three scorers notched 16, 10 and 10.

The Panthers finished 21-of-46 from the floor while the Vandals were 19-of-47 overall.

The two extra made two-point field goals proved to be the difference as each club hit seven free throws and three 3-point shots in the contest.

Coach Cody Rincker forced Ramsey (2-8) into 33-turnovers as they cruised out to a 52-10 halftime lead.

Drew Gibson, a 6-foot-3 senior forward, tossed home 22-points in the win while junior Alex Deters added 18.

Adam Levitt and Cade Walsh, both juniors, added 12 and 11-points in the rout.

Ramsey got just seven-points from senior Brady Black and five-points from freshman Hayden Seaton.

Not only was St. Anthony effective on the defensive end, they were hot from the floor offensively, hitting 44-of-61 shots (72.1 percent) overall and 3-of-4 3-point shots in the victory.

St. A held a 33-5 rebounding edge and held the Rams to just a 5-of-30 morning from the field.