Rockets fall one point short in Effingham-Teutopolis Christmas Classic final

EFFINGHAM — Unity had a chance to win it. A low-scoring, grind-it-out kind of game for the Effingham-Teutopolis Christmas Classic championship against Teutopolis, and it came down to the very last play.

With the ball and only two seconds left on the clock, Rockets boys’ basketball coach Matt Franks drew up an out-of-bounds play from the sideline. They threw the ball toward the rim, but a defender deflected the pass to give the Wooden Shoes a 37-36 win and the tournament title.

“It was a great game,” Franks said. “We got down by seven in the first half at one point but clawed back in it, and it was back and forth. Nobody took a bigger lead than four in the second half. It was just a great high school basketball game. Both teams played really, really hard, and we competed. Just came up one point short.”

Tre Hoggard led Unity’s (9-2) effort with 12 points, followed closely by Coleton Langendorf with 11 and Tyler Henry with six.

Despite the outcome, this is just the Rockets’ second loss through their first month of the season. Their first loss was also a competitive road game against Teutopolis 56-50 on Dec. 6. Pretty good early season resume for a group that played their first game — a 53-46 win over a solid Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin team — just four days after a 56-50 loss in the Class 3A state football championship.

“It speaks to our kids’ competitive spirit,” Franks said. “We’ve been really rusty early, and that’s expected, but our kids find ways to win games. I can’t say how proud I am of how hard our kids play. They just have that knack. They’ve been successful in everything they’ve done, and it’s no surprise that it carries over to the basketball court.

“They went from literally being on the brink of winning a state title to this. Every guy who played in that state championship football game was there on that Monday ready to play basketball. That speaks volumes of them and how competitive they are. People don’t realize how tough that transition is. When you’re competing against guys who’ve had 14 days of practice and a few games, that’s a big difference. For our guys to compete and have success early says so much about them.”

One of the biggest keys to the Rockets’ success has been the roster makeup. They have nine seniors leading the way who have been playing together their entire athletic careers and have experienced playing on the state’s biggest stage. Having a team full of senior leaders has been a luxury for Franks.

It’s been enormous,” Franks said. “In other years, you’d be pretty stressed out, but these guys know each other, trust each other and just go out and compete. You put those things together, and that’s allowed us to have this early success. We’ve got nine seniors who are tremendous competitors and leaders, and that’s huge.”

Just like Unity, Centennial had quite an exciting finish to its time at the Christmas Classic, falling 74-70 to Lawrenceville in the third-place game. Isaiah Allen led the Chargers (6-5) with 29 points and seven made three-pointers to lead all scorers on the final day of the tournament. J.J. Lewandowski put up 17 points, and Que Powell added 11.