02-06-15

Long time rival Effingham St. Anthony.

On Friday night at JH Griffin Gymnasium the rivalry was renewed and in this edition, the game didn't seem like much of a rivalry as the contest didn't stay close for very long.

Surviving a slow first few minutes, the Wooden Shoes got going with a 24-0 run that carried into the second quarter.

Coach Andy Fehrenbacher's club never let up in a 64-34 romp over the Bulldogs to improve to 20-4 on the season.

Balance on both ends of the floor, a goal for most coaches in this profession, was achieved on this night.

T-Town won every phase in picking up the victory in front of a near sellout crowd at home.

Brett Mette, a 6-foot-5 junior, topped the scoring chart with 13-points while Brock Mette added 12.

As a matter of record, nine Teutopolis players scored in the whitewash of a game, in which St. Anthony had a brief early lead just before the scoring wave hit the beach.

Or in this case, hardwood.

The Shoes, trailing 7-6 with 2:53 remaining in the quarter, exploded offensively and controlled the game on the defensive end, forcing Coach Cody Rincker's club into 12 first half turnovers.

Mitch Hardiek, Tyler Gebben and Tyler Smith all finished with eight points apiece.

Hardiek, a sophomore swing-man, lit the first fire with a 3-pointer to give the Shoes back the advantage.

A pair of free throws by Brett Mette ended the quarter at 11-7.

It got much worse for St. A in the next few minutes.

Brock Mette scored all 12 of his points in the second quarter.

Following a Gebben drive down the baseline, Mette canned his only 3-pointer of the game to force a Bulldogs' timeout at 16-7.

After a Brett Mette score on a nice hook shot on the baseline, Brock was fouled on the next possession shooting a 3-pointer.

He nailed all three free throws to extend the St. Anthony nightmarish second quarter.

Brock then took a fast break pass from Gebben off a St. A missed shot that pushed it to 23-7 and another Bulldog timeout.

“We always talk to the kids about letting your offense feed from your defense. If you get after it defensively and concentrate on what you are doing and get in the right position and rebound, then it (the offense) will get going,” said Coach Fehrenbacher. “That is exactly what happened there in that second quarter.”

Little went right for the Dawgs as Brock continued his scoring spree, netting the next seven points.

When he cashed in a transition score off of an assist after another St. Anthony turnover, the 24-0 onslaught stopped at 30-7 with 3:37 remaining.

“The run (24-0) was big and we went on a little terror there. But I think the big thing was that defensively we were really getting after it,” said Coach Fehrenbacher. “We made it very difficult for them to do anything. We made life pretty difficult for them.”

The Bulldogs got a couple of scores in the closing moments of the frame.

Nick Grunloh, a 6-foot-3 junior, led St. Anthony with 10-points as he was the only Bulldog in double-figures while 5-foot-11 junior Kyle Hartke added six.

They both picked up baskets to make it 30-11 at intermission.

“We have to find a way to keep these (scoring) droughts from lasting as long as they have,” said Coach Rincker. “T-town is going to force you into things you don't want to do. Calling timeouts isn't going to stop the drought. The guys have to look at themselves and find a way to strong and to do the good things that we did in those first four minutes. The guys have to step up. It comes back to just playing a full 32 (minutes).”

Senior Andrew Gardewine scored to start the third quarter, finishing one of only two scoring runs of the night (6-0) for St. Anthony.

The Shoes answered with a 13-1 run.

Gebben nailed a 3-pointer sandwiched around a pair of buckets by Michael Drees and Devin Smith.

Not to be outdone, Brett Mette stepped out to the 3-point arc and nailed a long range shot to push the lead to 43-14.

To the Bulldogs credit, they club kept battling.

Coach Rincker's squad got a couple of scores from Grunloh and senior Braden Puckett.

Puckett's 3-pointer and a pair of free throws by senior Conner Greene closed the gap to 47-22 at the end of three.

“We needed to concentrate and do the little things that we need to do to handle the pressure like that,” said Coach Rincker. “I'm looking for guys who are going to play tough and strong against good competition. We need that to make a deep run in the postseason. That is where we want to get to.”

Teutopolis cruised home for the win with Brett Mette adding a final tally and Hardiek nailing another 3-pointer.

A conventional three-point play by Gebben on a drive down the baseline added to the landslide of points.

Hardiek's trey made it 60-30 with 3:10 to go and soon both coaches went to their respective benches.

The tale of the tape showed the real story of the lopsided win for the Shoes.

Coach Fehrenbacher's troops controlled the boards.

They out-rebounded the Bulldogs 23-10.

That number seems low until you look at the other stats.

The Wooden Shoes hit 22-of-32 from the floor (68.7 percent) and were 6-of-10 from beyond the arc.

T-Town held St. Anthony to just three offensive rebounds and there were chances as the Bulldogs were just 12-of-33 themselves from the field (36.3 percent).

The Bulldogs (14-9) have struggled offensively this season, according to Coach Rincker, and it didn't get any better on Friday night against a stingy defensive effort by the hosts.

Both teams were a bit sloppy with the basketball, committing 33-turnovers (17 by St. Anthony) in the game that was never in doubt by the middle of the second quarter on.

“We had a tough stretch in January mentally and physically and it is a long season with a lot of tough opponents, four out of six days we made trips to Nashville and it takes a toll,” added Coach Fehrenbacher. “But we are pulling ourselves out of that and we are getting back on track. There are still a lot of things we can work on.”

The Wooden Shoes get back into action against Robinson on Saturday night on the road while the Bulldogs host South Central in a NTC game on Tuesday.