Game 77: Galesburg vs. Teutopolis (Boy's Basketball)

Game 77
Galesburg vs. Teutopolis (Boy's Basketball)
Charleston Holiday Tournament Championship
(12/29/10)

I was pretty close on my 9:30 tip-off prediction, it was actually 9:35! As we went to break during our pregame show, I was beginning to calculate my arrival at home. Early estimates pegged a 2:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m. homecoming.



The Teutopolis Wooden Shoes came in with an unblemished 12-0 record, and had easily handled all opponents. T-Town had not won a game by single digits, all double-digit wins this season. They did come in a little banged up. Mark Niebrugge (6'2" Jr.) banged up his knee, and came out during warmups, but left and went into the locker room. He returned just before tip off in his warmups and would not play. Blake Thoele (6'4" Sr. Guard) tore his ACL earlier this year.

The crowd at Lantz Arena was impressive. It was 95% Teutopolis supporters. It's amazing how small towns get behind their basketball teams and follow them. It also helps that just 38 miles seperates Charleston from Teutopolis.

In talking with the T-Town fans behind us, they mentioned (along with others) that this is quite possibly the best Teutopolis boy's basketball team in their history. That is saying something with the deep postseason runs the program has, including a state championship in 1985-86.

Galesburg also comes in a little banged up, with Aslan Butler out with a foot injury. He got hurt in practice just before Christmas. With the lack of post players on the team, his loss really hurts, especially with such a big team in Teutopolis. Coach Reynolds said Teutopolis doesn't resemble a 2A team, but more like a 3A team with the height in their lineup, while his team looks more like a 1A/2A team in terms of height.

The Silver Streaks jumped out to a 10-6 lead after the 1st quarter, and held on to lead 18-13 at halftime. Using ball control, and limiting a high-potent T-Town offense in posessions, the Streaks were able to beat the Wooden Shoes 38-26.

The 26-point effort by Teutopolis was by far the least amount of points scored this season by the team. Coach Reynolds told us in the WAIK post game show that this is what his team will have to do in most games, limit posessions and slow the game down. It worked to perfection in this tournament championship.

Dalton Davis led the Streaks with 13 points, the only player in the game to score in double figures. Tournament MVP Brandon Thompson was held to just one point. Thompson was averaging just over 20 points/game coming into the game. The Galesburg defense forced 13 turnovers, while turning the ball over just 9 times themselves.

All-Tournament Team
MVP: Brandon Thompson (Galesburg)
Dalton Davis (Galesburg)
Ryan McElmurry (Galesburg)
Nick Schumacher (Teutopolis)
Derek Thompson (Teutopolis)
Jeremy Wohltman (Effingham)
T.J. Bell (Charleston)
Joey Miller (Charleston)
Jeffrey Hartley (Highland)
Trent Donaldson (Highland)

Family Affair
Teutopolis' Derek Thompson is the son of girl's head coach Laurie Thompson. Derek is a left-handed pitcher that is a Major League Baseball prospect, twirling a 90 mph fastball.

No Relation???
With names like Niebrugge and Deters in a small town, one would think their would be a relation. Nope. Apparently, Jayme Niebrugge of the girl's team and Mark Niebrugge of the boy's team are not related, "but possibly distantly related," according to our Teutopolis sources. The same can be said for Gabi Deters and Lee and Brett Deters.

Three Days Just Perfect
It was 11:00 when we left Lantz Arena, the ending of three days covering the tournament. I told Jimmie on our way out, that three day holiday tournaments are just perfect, noting that we had a good time and saw enough basketball in three days. Four days would just be a bit much. Of course, being the hoops head that I am, I wouldn't mind four days!

Bathroom Talk
After gassing up at the Charleston Marathon ($3.159), I headed out. Speaking of the Marathon gas station, they have the best smelling bathroom I have ever been in. I first noticed it on Tuesday night as we made a stop there so Jimmie could buy his lottery tickets (we made stops each day for his lottery fix). It had a very small cinnamon smell, but not a nasty potpourri smell that was overpowering. Speaking of bathrooms, at Cody's in Mattoon on Tuesday, I thought I may have used the women's restroom. While washing my hands, I noted the pink hand soap. I found that ironic in a men's restroom. Then, as I walked out, the sign (on the inside) on the door said "Women." Oops! However, that must have been some sort of joke, because the sign on the outside of the door read, "Men."

Driving With Beau
For some of my blog readers, you may not know this, but I once had a radio segment on K100 in Macomb entitled, "Cooking with Beau." It's true, I had my own cooking show. Of course, it was a comedic take on my lack of culinary skills! The basic plot was that listeners would send in recipes, and I would (try to) cook them on Wednesday night, and bring in samples on Thursday morning. The show began after an Easter segment in which I could not remember what Deviled Eggs were called, and I simply called them, "those eggs with the yellow stuff taken out and then put back in with the red sprinkles on top." For those that followed our morning show with Chris Smith and I, it will also be noted that I had an extremely hard time with directions and driving. Now, armed with a Garmin, I don't have those navigating problems anymore. However, tonight on the drive home, I decided to ignore Garmin's requests follow their path. After looking at the Garmin map, it directed me to take a bunch of two-lane highways back from Charleston to Macomb. I ignored those instructions, and went my own way. I took I-57 back through Champaign, and jumped on I-74 in Bloomington. I had planned on taking I-74 back to Peoria, and then cutting across to Macomb, but I got confused in Bloomington and ended up going down to McLean and taking Route 136 across.

My arrival in Macomb was 2:40 a.m. and very tired! In fact, I had the conscious nod offs during the final leg of my trip. That is where I would fall asleep with my eyes open. Pretty scary when you snap out of that 1 or 2 second sleep. I had thought about grabbing a coffee when I began the drive back, but didn't want to be up all night, since I had to wake up at 6:30 and head into the office. Thursday afternoon couldn't come soon enough for nap time.

Game 77 Miles: 196