The Taylorville Tornadoes headed to Effingham to take on the Flaming Hearts in an Apollo Conference matchup. Starting for Taylorville was Drake Howard, Jake McConnell, WIll Turvey, Myles Clayton, and Will Bitschenauer. Starting for Effingham was Garrett Wolfe, ANdrew Donaldson, Logan Heil, Spencer Fox, and Andrew Splechter.  

Effingham got the jump and got things underway.  A missed three led to an out of bounds for Taylorville and Taylorville brought the ball down. Howard was short on a three and Splechter rebounded.  Another out of bounds for Taylorville but the ball was knocked out of bounds on a pass by Heil. After another turnover Clayton fouled Splechter on a fast break. Splechter made both freethrows to make it Effingham 2-0.  Will Bitschenauer got Taylorville on the board with a quick 3 and steal but he missed the layup and it went the other way. Clayton picked up his second foul on a push which allowed Splechter to go back to the line. Splechter made both his free throws again. Bitschenauer answered with another three to give Taylorville a 6-4 lead. 

Bitschenauer picked up another steal giving Taylorville a 8-4 lead. Effingham’s shooting went rather cold as they had three atempts but couldn’t get anything to fall. After an offensive foul was called on Baron Odam, Taylorville took a timeout.  They held the lead 8-4 with 2:24 left in the first quarter. Baron Odam got a beautiful back door pass from Jake McConnell to give the Tornadoes a 10-4 lead with 90 seconds left in the first. Effingham finally stopped the drought with a three from Andrew Donaldson but Drake Howard answered right back with a three of his own to make it 13-7. Another quick three from Will Bitschenauer made it 16-7 after a beautiful no look pass from Will Turvey. A foul from Drake Howard gave him his second and sent Fox to the line but he only hit one of two free throws. Taylorville was unable to score as time expired and at the end of the first quarter, Taylorville lead Effingham 16-8.

Turvey got Taylorville off to quick start in the second with a three to give Taylorville an 11 point lead. Wolfe hit a two, but Turvey hit a three and than Bitschenauer picked up a steal but couldn’t capitalize. TOrnadoes lead 22-12 after Schecter hit a quick layup.  Will Turvey though responded with a big three and Taylorville lead 25-12 with 5:09 left in the second. Taylorville’s defense continued to amaze as a charge was picked up by Hile forcing Effingham to take a full timeout. Gunner Brown came out of the timeout with a quick fieldgoal and Garrett Wolfe tacked on another two forcing Taylorville to take their own timeout up 25-16 with 3:17 left in the first half. Gunner Brown got a steal and scored another quick basket cutting the deficit for Effingham to 7. Taylorville stopped the 6-0 run with a three from Will Turvey. Logan Heil scored on a floater from 3 feet but Baron Odam hit a three to put Taylorville up by 11.  

A Will Bitschenauer foul put Splechter on the line who hit both his free throws.  Splechter hit another layup but than picked up a blocking foul against Odam. Will Turvey capitalized on a huge quarter for Taylorville with a buzzer beater three after the Effingham student section gave a fake countdown. The score at halftime gave Taylorville a 34-24 lead. Turvey had a fantastic quarter with 13 points. 

Logan Heil got things kicked off in the third quarter with a quick bucket but the offense on both sides struggled until Drake Howard hit a three with 6:12 left in the third. Heil scored again after getting his own rebound but the Hearts still found themselves down 37-28. A quick backdoor pass led to an easy score from Garrett Wolfe to cut the deficit to 7. Wolfe would score again followed by another Taylorville turnover but Drake Howard would steal the ball right back but wouldn’t be able to capitalize.  Wolfe scored again on a quick transition and Effingham had cut the deficit to three forcing Taylorville to take a timeout up 37-34 with 3:28 left in the third. Heil scored again bringing the Hearts within 1.

Odam would pick up his second foul after playing tough defense under the basket. Donaldson miss both of his free throws though. Effingham thought they got an “And one” as Splechter drove in on Odam, but the charge was called much to the dismay of the crowd. Wolfe would get fouled by Myles Clayton for Clayton’s third foul of the night. Wolfe would miss both of his free throws as well. With 52.5 seconds left, Effingham would call a timeout. Despite being outscored 10-3, Taylorville still held a 37-36 lead at the end of the third quarter. 

Wolfe hit a big three to get the crowd energized to give Effingham their second lead of the day 39-37. After some miscommunication, Drake Howard picked up a steal, scored and got fouled. He was unable to hit the free throw, leading to a tie game.  

Drake Howard hit a layup, but Heil responded back to tie it up.  Fox would pick up another foul though and send Howard back to the line for a foul on the three pointer. Drake would hit two out of three but Will Bitschenauer would steal and give the Tornadoes a 4 point lead. With a 47-41 lead, Odam would go 1 for 2 from the free throw line, but an Effingham steal would lead to a trip to the free throw line after a foul on Jake McConnell. Heil would hit the first but miss the second.  

Taylorville held a 48-43 lead with 3:27 in the fourth. Wolfe hit a three pointer to pull the Hearts within 2. A full timeout was called and the Tornadoes lead 48-46 with 2:49 left. Heil would score to knot it up at 48. Baron Odam had a 6 bounce three pointer that finally went in. Spechter would pick up his third foul this time an offensive one but Bitschenaeuer couldn’t hit and Wolfe hit a three to retie up the game at 51 with 1:28 left.  Taylorville would than take a full timeout. 

Heil would hit a go ahead field goal to give a 53-51 lead. Clayton would finally foul but that would be his fifth and he would foul out of the game. Coach Brown seemed very unhappy with the officiating. With 25.6 seconds left, Bitschenauer got a foul and Wolfe would hit both free throws to give the Hearts a four point lead.  Howard would respond with a layup to bring the Tornadoes within two, and a timeout was taken. Howard got called with a reach in foul with 16 seconds left but the free throw was missed and on the rebound, Spencer Fox fouled out after landing on top of Jake McConnell. McConell missed but but the Tornadoes couldn’t score in the last six seconds despite three chances and the Hearts would win the game 55-53. 

Coach Ryan Brown gave his thoughts on the game.

With a 34-24 lead Taylorville leads Effingham at halftime.  Will Turvey leads in scoring with 15. We are experiencing technical difficulties broadcasting the game but will have a complete recap complete with an interview with coach Ryan Brown following the conclusion of the game.