Game 68: Galesburg vs. Effingham (Boy's Basketball)

Game 68
Galesburg vs. Effingham (Boy's Basketball)
Charleston Holiday Tournament
(12/27/10)

One of the top teams in this tournament, will be playing in the opposite pool. It is a school with a mascot I mentioned in my previous entry, the Teutopolis Wooden Shoes. Rob Calhoun and I had a discussion about some of the town pronunciations in this Charleston/Mattoon area.



I didn't realize it, but there are several different pronunciations for Teutopolis. Rob mentioned three of them, and it depends who you ask.

1) Too-top-uh-liss
2) Tee-top-uh-liss
3) Tee-uh-top-uh-liss

Personally, I go with #1, and according to Rob, that is the correct pronunciation. He also mentioned the often mistaken Casey. It's not Casey...as in the General Store that I frequent on my basketball travels, but rather Kay-zee. The "s" is pronounced like a "Z". I had heard of this. The third in this area often mistaken is Mattoon. I always called it Muh-Toon, until I became friends with a Mattoon alum at Western Illinois University. She quickly corrected my incorrect pronounciation, and I have correctly called it Matt-Toon since.

For the first time, I used the most awesome high school basketball tool I have ever seen, in preparing for the Galesburg/Effingham game. "Metroeast," from various high school sports message boards was kind enough to send me his ultimate schedule. It is a gigantic Excel spreadsheet with every boy's basketball schedule inside. I began to fill out the Effingham results, finding most of them in the Effingham and Decatur newspapers online. It tabulated the overall record (AND even the conference win/loss record), along with offensive and defensive scoring averages. I had no idea how useful this could be, and will be using it more consistently from now on. Through email correspondence, he said he would like to get it on a website in some fashion, but hasn't found a way. I have begun posting the schedules at IHSSN, but as far as embedding the spreadsheet, that goes a little over my head.

The Flaming Hearts bring in a 4-5 record, and come in with a victory over Mt. Zion after a lopsided loss to Teutopolis. Galesburg enters at 8-3, winning two straight (Bettendorf, Sterling).

Unlike the previous Galesburg/Effingham game, the Silver Streaks offense was on fire in the first eight minutes. The Streaks outscored the Flaming Hearts 26-9 in the first quarter. However, the scoring explosion simmered out in the 2nd and 3rd quarters, putting up just 18 points in that 16 minute time frame.

Galesburg led 34-25 at halftime, and led by just four points after three quarters, 44-40. In fact, Effingham took a lead late in the 3rd quarter, 40-39 on a Jeremy Wohltman (19 points) basket. Chad Thompson one-upped him on the other end, knocking down a three-pointer in the corner to give the Streaks a 42-40 lead, and they never trailed again, winning 60-48. Galesburg outscored Effingham 16-8 in the final eight minutes.

Ryan McElmurry scored 16 points for the Streaks, a team-high. Brandon Thompson scored 14 points, 11 of them in the first quarter. Dalton Davis pitched in 10 points. Davis was named our First Glass "Breakout Player of the Game," for some of his defensive efforts, along with his 3-5 free throw shooting down the stretch.

Galesburg shot 7-18 from the three-point line, and just 9-18 from the free throw line.

The Streaks have given up 46.3 points/game coming into this matchup, and allowed 48 points. The offense was averaging 56.7 points/game, and scored 60 points.

After packing up, Jimmie and I made plans to have lunch with the other Galesburg radio guys, Jim Wyman and Brad Bennewitz of WGIL. On the menu, Buffalo Wild Wings.

Before heading to Mattoon to Buffalo Wild Wings, we checked into our rooms at the Days Inn. There was a pop machine sign that said, "Soda isn't cold, sorry for the inconvenience." The odd part was the sign on the ice machine. "Out of Order." The Days Inn has found a way to curb my afternoon caffeine addiction!

Jim and Brad were already at BWW's when we arrived. I need not peruse the menu before ordering, which tells me that I dine at this establishment all too often. I ordered a dozen traditional asian zing wings, with a side of bleu cheese.

I believe Jim and Jimmie both ordered a bacon cheeseburger, and can't remember what Brad ordered. I didn't realize this, but Brad grew up in the Peoria area, before his family moved to Kansas. He attended high school in Topeka, and attended Kansas University. He went to KU during an exciting time, as he was a college freshman during the 1988 NCAA championship run with Danny Manning leading the Jayhawks charge. He returned to Illinois after an internship in Peoria, and worked in Galesburg radio for 15 years. He now teaches at Galesburg High School.

Via Twitter earlier in the day, Galesburg Register-Mail's Jay Redfern mentioned that he posted a blurb about my Quest blog, http://media.galesburg.com/drupal/node/835. Jay's blog is an everyday read for me. His is one of three blogs that I peruse several times a week. There are other blogs that I enjoy, but just not updated enough for regular viewing. My top three...

1) Massey Basketball. Silver Streaks girl's basketball coach Evan Massey began this blog a couple months ago, and it has soared in popularity. The big key is his consistent updates, adding several articles a day. My favorites are his interviews with players on the team.

2) Jay Redfern & The Lunch Gang. Two seperate blogs, both from the Register-Mail. Jay's blog delves into a little bit of everything, mainly with current events in Galesburg, but there is a little bit of everything. The Lunch Gang is basically your office lunch break, in the blogosphere. Their aren't too many updates on the Lunch Gang, mainly because there's only so many restaurants in Galesburg, and you don't want to be repetitive. I must admit, that one of the parts I insituted in this blog a year ago, was stolen from the Lunch Gang. One of my favorite parts of the Lunch Gang, is the mentions of various townspeople, media folk, etc. that the Gang would run into at eating establishments, and the conversations that were discussed around the lunch table. After reading the Lunch Gang, that was something I wanted to install in my own blog.

3) #35's Waste of Space. This is from Northern Illinois Sports Beat publisher Cody Cutter. He is a fellow site author for Illinois High School Glory Days, and writes about whatever is on his mind in this blog. Admittedly, I take a little bit from Cody's blog. His blog doesn't go much into high school sports, but more on the coverage of sports, his website, and his other job. The thing I use from his style, is the thoughts that surround me while I travel to the different games, so I try to twist some of them into my entries.

Game 68 Miles: 20