EFFINGHAM — Landyn Thoele had his fingerprints on Teutopolis’ victory on Wednesday evening.
Literally.
The senior forward for the Wooden Shoes finished with a double-double — 16 points and 10 rebounds — as T-Town defeated Tolono (Unity), 37-36, in the championship game of the Effingham-Teutopolis Christmas Classic.
Nothing Thoele did was more important than the final defensive stop of the contest, though.
Clinging to a one-point lead, the Rockets had the ball out of a timeout with under three seconds to go.
Unity senior Dane Eisenmenger inbounded the ball, throwing it near the rim to senior Coleton Langendorf.
Reading the play perfectly, Thoele knocked the ball away from Langendorf to secure the win.
“That’s where we wanted him to be,” Shoes head coach Chet Reeder said. “We told him, ‘You don’t need to try and catch it; just bat that thing in the air and let other people get it.'”
The win pushed T-Town to 11-2 on the season. It was the second win this year for the Wooden Shoes over the Rockets, a team they could match up with for a third time in the postseason.
Additionally, the tournament win was the program’s fifth Effingham-Teutopolis Christmas Classic title and first since 2018. T-Town was in the same position one season ago, but lost to St. Anthony in the final game.
“It’s a battle of attrition,” Reeder said. “It’s four games in three days. It’s not a lot of turnaround or rest, but this group is built for that. They don’t care if they’re tired or sore. They just want to go out and compete and battle.
“To win a tournament, like this, is a tremendous testament to them.”
Senior guard Gavin Addis remembers that game against the Bulldogs one year ago.
He will surely cherish this one a little bit more.
“It feels good,” Addis said. “We were here last year and just came up a little short, but it feels good that we have a team that could come back and win it.”
The Shoes showed the different styles of games they can win over the course of the three-day event.
Not 24 hours before the title game, T-Town defeated Class 3A Champaign (Centennial), in overtime, 76-74.
They mucked it up and won ugly on Wednesday.
“We knew it was going to be a different type of game,” Reeder said. “Both teams are physical on defense and rebound really well. I figured it’d be a little more high scoring than this, but when you’ve got two groups that know each other really well, it comes down to executing the little things and being able to make timely shots.”
Neither team shot the ball well in the first half.
Unity was 2-of-19 in the first 16 minutes. The Shoes were 7-of-24.
T-Town controlled a three-point lead, 8-5, at the end of the first quarter. The Shoes led 18-13 at the break.
In the second frame, the Rockets cut the deficit to one point, 10-9, before a seven-point run by T-Town pushed the advantage to eight.
Unity made its second field goal of the game with 1:54 left before halftime, when senior guard Tyler Henry converted a layup and drew a foul to make it 18-11.
Langendorf gave the Rockets some momentum heading into the locker room after a buzzer-beating layup dropped.
Unity eventually took the lead in the third.
Sophomore guard Jake Probst made a corner three-pointer to knot the game with 3:17 to go. That shot was the first make in nine attempts for the Shoes to begin the second half.
The Rockets regained the lead shortly after that. Addis then responded with a three-pointer of his own, tying the game once again.
Both teams then traded blows.
Unity took a 31-28 lead, but a three-pointer from senior guard Isaac McWhorter tickled the twine to even the playing field once more.
Thoele then took over to end the game.
He made back-to-back shots down the stretch to push his team’s lead to four points, 37-33.
Rockets senior guard Tre Hoggard made the final with a three-pointer with 1:28 left before the ending sequence.
Aside from Thoele, Probst had eight points and two rebounds. Addis had five points and nine rebounds. McWhorter and senior guard Landyn Buening had three points and senior guard Joey Probst had two points.
Reeder was especially pleased with his team’s rebounding after the game. T-Town won that battle, 34-26.
“It’s our culture; it’s our identity,” Reeder said. “It’s what teams know us for. I get coaches asking me all the time, ‘How do you get kids to do that?’ It’s all on them. It’s their heart and toughness. They buy into it.”
Hoggard led the Rockets with 12 points. He added three rebounds.
Langendorf had 11 points and eight rebounds. Tyler Henry had six points and four rebounds. Eisenmenger and sophomore Carter Schmid had three points and senior guard Brayden Henry had one point.