Wyatt Younker was having a fantastic day on defense.  He was forcing turnovers, clearing lanes, even pulled down a couple rebounds. However, a left wing 3 pointer with 4.2 seconds left, secured a huge 51-49 win over the Effingham Flaming Hearts on Tuesday evening at the Dolph. The Tornadoes jumped out to a 15-9 lead in the first quarter, and would maintain that 6 point lead pretty much through the rest of the second and third quarter leading as much as ten points before trailing by 5 in the fourth quarter.  

Brock Brown sunk two quick 3s and the Tornadoes also got contributions from Wyatt Younker and Maddex Havera and Malique Pearse. Jenner Pals of Effingham dropped 7 and Jake Niebrugge added 2 as Taylorville lead 15-9.  In the second quarter, Taylorville and Effingham would adjust and the Tornadoes would hold a slight 10-7 run in the 2nd as defense was king.  Taylorville took a 25-16 lead into the locker room as a balanced attack led to points from Maddyx Owens, Younker, Blake Ladage, and Brock Brown. 

Brock Brown was the only Tornado to score in the third quarter as he dropped 10, but Effingham got 16 points from Cannon Bockhorn and Jenner Pals. and Effingham cut the defecit to 3 as Taylorville lead going into the 4th 35-32. In the fourth quarter Effingham tied it up again on 3's from Bockhorn and Pals, but Taylorville wouldn't let up.  Effingham even led by 5 leading 48-43 with 1:02 left.  Taylorville's Brock Brown kicked out a left wing pass to Blake Ladage who hit a huge 3 to cut the defecit to 2, 48-46.  With 43 seconds left, a scrum on the floor led to Taylorville thinking they had possession on a jump ball, but Effingham had called time out and hung on to possession. 

Taylorville was able to steal it though on the inbounds and led to an open Blake Ladage easy jumper under the basket as the Effingham defense wasn't set and Taylorville tied up the game at 48.  Pearse fouled Jake Niebrugge with 23 seconds left in an attempt to get the ball back.  Niebrugge made 1/2 free throws and Effingham once again led 49-48. With 9 seconds left, Malique tried to get the ball over to Maddyx Owens but the ball was knocked out of bounds.  On the play in Owens lobbed the ball over to Wyatt Younker who got a 3 point shot off over the outstretched hand over Dagg Thompson and it hit nothing but net giving Taylorville the win, or so the Tornadoes thought.  

After discussion, the referees added 0.9 seconds left on the clock but on the ensuing play, Blake Ladage picked off the inbounds pass, and the Tornadoes indeed hung on for a 51-49 victory. Taylorville went 9/13 from the free throw line, 12/31 from the field, and 6/18 from beyond the arc. Effingham went 8/13 from the free throw line, 10/26 from the field, and 7/15 from beyond the arc. 

Taylorville improves to 14-14 and Effingham falls to 10-20 on the season.  Wyatt Younker was named the WTIM Nicole Patrick Country Financial Agent player of the game. 

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Effingham      9                7             16        17         49

Taylorville      15             10            10        16         51