SALEM — Teutopolis fell in love with the 3-point shot early on Tuesday night at Salem. And for good reason: The Wooden Shoes nailed four of their first five attempts from beyond the arc against the Wildcats.

But T-Town’s love affair with the trifecta soured as the night went on — even though the Wooden Shoes stubbornly refused to call it quits. Andy Fehrenbacher’s team made just three of its next 30 three-point attempts against Salem’s zone defense.

The latter unsightly stat looked like it might help carry the Wildcats to a huge upset, but just when the Shoes’ obsession with the long-range shot looked like it would lead to its demise, back-to-back treys from Reed Hardiek in the fourth quarter had T-Town madly in love with the 3-point shot again.

The latter trey put the Shoes (5-1) up 55-52 with three minutes remaining, and T-Town never looked back, staving off a major upset with a 57-52 win.

Hardiek finished with 16 points off the bench, as the Shoes overcame 26 percent shooting from downtown (10 for 38), a rare quiet night from Kyle Pruemer, and Jared Waldhoff and Derek Smith’s foul trouble.

Smith and Devin Falbe looked like they might single handidly lead T-Town to victory early on, as they combined for 20 of the Shoes’ 23 first-quarter points.

The Wooden Shoes enjoyed an 11-point lead in the opening frame, 23-12, after scoring off steals on three straight possessions, the first by Smith, the second by Falbe and the third by Hardiek, who was fouled and completed a three-point play.

But an athletic and resilient Salem team refused to fold, responding with a 16-6 run that cut T-Town’s lead to just one.

The Wildcats drew even with the Shoes, 34-34, on a 3-pointer with 30 seconds to go in the half, but Rourke Schultz put T-Town back in the lead heading into the locker room with a stickback just before the horn sounded.

It was a dogfight from there, as the Shoes continued to struggle from long range in the second half. Salem managed to take a four-point lead in the third quarter, but T-Town battled back, and Hardiek’s 3-pointers proved to be game-savers, as Waldhoff and Smith were both saddled with four fouls heading into the final three minutes of play.

Salem had a chance to tie the game with a 3-pointer in the final minute of play, but Falbe came up with a steal and fast-break layup to put T-Town up five points and pretty much seal the deal.

Falbe finished with 11 points, joining Smith and Hardiek in double figures. Pruemer didn’t score until the three-minute mark of the third quarter, and it proved to be his only basket of the game. The 6-foot-6 senior was bothered by a leg injury.

The Shoes will enjoy a long break before hosting Effingham on Dec. 11.



T-Town 57, Salem 52

T-Town Scoring — Smith 18, Hardiek 15, Falbe 11, Pruemer 2, Waldhoff 2, Schultz 2. Shooting: 23-64, 10-38 3-pnt FG, 1-3 FT.



Salem Scoring — Rush 15, Phillips 14, Woodward 10, Conklin 9, Frederick 2, Foreman 2. Shooting: 21-43 FG, 2-8 3-pnt FG, 8-12 FT.



Turnovers — Salem 16, T-Town 9. Records — T-Town is 5-1, Salem is 1-6



Eagles rout Pirates

NEWTON — Dylan Davidson and Elijah Knepper scored a combined 33 points in Newton’s 72-35 rout over the Cumberland Pirates.

Keith Butler added nine points of his own while Luke Stone and Corey Davidson chipped in eight points apiece.

Trevor Brumleve scored nine points for the Pirates and went 3-for-4 in free throw attempts. Kole Butler added seven points, while Colton Ingram added six of his own and went 2-for-2 in free throws.

Cumberland will be back in action Friday as it hosts Robinson, while Newton will be on the road at Edwards County.



Newton 72, Cumberland 35

Cumberland    7    10    9    9    —    35

Newton    18    20    17    17    —    72



Cumberland —T.Brumleve 9, Ingram 6, C.Brumleve 2, Wolke 3, Phillips 3, Butler 7, Naier 5

Newton — Johnson 4, D.Davidson 17, Shipman 5, Chesnut 4, Stone 8, Bigard 1, C.Davidson 8, Ebeling 2, Knepper 16, Butler 9



Cowden-Herrick rallies past St. Elmo

COWDEN — Cowden-Herrick rallied from a narrow 38-37 third quarter to defeat St. Elmo 52-50.

Tyson Morgason scored 12 points for Cowden-Herrick, while Ethan Schoonover added 11 and Luke Moore chipped in 10.

Seth Barnes went 4-for-4 in free throws.

Levi Maxey scored 15 points for the Eagles, Garrett Bartels chipped in 12 points and Connor Beasley added 11.

St. Elmo will play at St. Anthony Thursday while the Bombers will play at Ramsey.



Cowden-Herrick 52, St. Elmo 50

St. Elmo    14    9    15    12    —    50

Cowden-Herrick    11    14    12    15    —    52



St. Elmo — Bartels 12, Brady 2, Beasl,ey 11, Wells 4, L.Maxey 15, Davis 6

Cowden-Herrick — Heiserman 9, Moore 10, Burris 2, Barnes 6, Schoonover 11, Morgason 12, Miller 2



Girls Basketball

North Clay defeats Cisne

Behind 22 points and 11 rebounds from Kortney Stanfield, the North Clay Cardinals earned a 61-32 victory over Cisne on Monday night.

Morgan Walker added 10 points, seven boards and eight assists, and Rachel Smith had eight points for the Cardinals.



North Clay 61, Cisne 32

North Clay    18    17    8    18    —    61

Cisne    10    8    8    6    —    32



North Clay — Stanfield, K. 22 pts., Walker 10, Smith 8, Yeager 6, Bible 4, Wyatt 4, Morei 4, Lovett 2, Barbee 1

Cisne — Byars 10 pts., Gill, B. 8, Malloy 7, Gill, M. 2, Pogue 2, Paul 2, Bullard 1



Newton tops Palestine/Hutsonville

The Eagles had three players score double-digit points en route to a 69-50 victory over Palestine/Hutsonville on Monday night.

Morgan Swingler led the way with 27 points and eight rebounds. Tara Wirth had 12 points and nine rebounds, and Andrea Cartright added 10 points and six rebounds.

The Eagles improved to 7-2 with the win.



Newton 69, Pal/Hut 50

Pal/Hut    7    11    18    14    —    50

Newton    14    12    24    19    —    69



Pal/Hut — Churchwell 19 pts., Fulling 13, Kiger 6, Williams 6, Nehls 6

Newton — Swingler 27 pts., Wirth 12, Cartright 10, Jansen 8, Will 4, Bierman 3, Kerner 2, Stewart 2, Koebele 1



Neoga routs South Central

Jillian Deters scored 24 points, grabbed eight rebounds and had five steals and three blocks to lead Neoga to a 70-16 win over South Central on Monday night.

Maddie Butler and E.C. Thies each scored 11 points, Olivia Ott had 10 rebounds and Kristin Deters added seven assists for the Indians.

The Indians are now 2-6.



Neoga 70, South Central 16

South Central    4    4    2    6    —    16

Neoga    23    12    26    9    —    70



South Central — Cain 10 pts., Lotz 2, Keen 2, Ritter 2

Neoga — Deters, J. 24 pts., Butler 11, Thies 11, Roderick 7, Ott 6, Buening 4, Erickson 2, Partlow 2, Struthers 2, Deters, K. 1



South Central falls to Webber

    Macie Cain scored 14 points, but the Cougars still fell to Webber, 55-32.

    South Central (0-8, 0-3) will play Thursday at home against Brownstown/St.Elmo.



Webber 55, South Central 32

Weber    17    10    12    16    —    55

South Central    8    6    3    13    —    32



Weber — Stats not available.

South Central — King 5; Riley 2; Rose 1; Lotz 6; Lewis 4; Cain 14