Brock Brown hit, what felt like a 75 foot three point shot, dropped 34 points, and helped the Tornadoes to an overtime win in Effingham against the Flaming Hearts on Friday night 57-52.  The Taylorville Tornadoes got off to a quick start in the first quarter with a 17-9 run.  Coach Ryan Brown said he was thrilled with Taylorville's defensive efforts and that the Tornadoes did a good job preventing second chance shots. 

In the second quarter, the Tornadoes couldn't play as efficiently as they had in the first quarter, leading to some easy turnovers and Effingham outscored Taylorville 11-7 as the Tornadoes headed into the locker room with a slim 24-20 lead.  Taylorville had lead as much as by ten points but Effingham's Brayden McDaniel and Cannon Bockhorn put together a strong second quarter and kept the Flaming Hearts within striking distance. 

In the third quarter, Effingham rolled on the back of Jenner Pals who put in 11 of his 21 points and Effingham got contributions from Cole Phillips as well. Brock Brown hit two huge back to back threes to keep the Tornadoes in it, but Effingham would take the lead on a big 19-13 run and it felt like the Hearts had all the momentum going  into the fourth quarter.  Brock Brown got a quick rebound off a last second shot and turned around and put it up from near the end line of where the volleyball line was painted and it caromed off the backboard right into the net giving the Tornadoes a 40-39 lead at the end of the third. 

In the fourth quarter, the Tornadoes and Hearts would go back and forth and trade leads and it felt that the Hearts would pull away, but Effingham struggled at the free throw line and the Tornadoes came back into it. Jenner Pals hit a big three that seemingly put the game away, but Maddex Havera hit a huge three pointer and the Tornadoes and Hearts continued the battle into overtime all knotted up at 49. 

In overtime, the Tornadoes would finally pull away, courtesy of a three from Maddex Havera, and free throws from Brock Brown and Maddyx Owens. The Tornadoes would hang on and win in overtime 57-52. 

Brock Brown was named the WTIM Nicole Patrick Country Financial Player of the game.  

                       1         2        3         4        OT         F
Effingham     9        11      19       10       3           52  

Taylorville    17        7        16        9       8           57

Leading scorers Effingham: Jenner Pals 21, Brady McDaniel 8, Cole Phillips 6

Taylorville: Brock Brown 34, Maddex Havera 11, Malique Pearse 6, Blake Ladage 4

Taylorville boys basketball improves to 6-8 (2-2 Apollo).  They play Peoria Notre Dame on Saturday.